Serbia's TurkStream Sabotage Probe Enters Second Month With No Arrest
By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
What was found
On April 5, Serbian army and police units discovered two backpacks in the municipality of Kanjiža, northern Serbia, several hundred meters from the Balkan Stream pipeline — the extension of Russia's TurkStream network that supplies gas to Serbia and Hungary. The backpacks contained approximately four kilograms of plastic explosives, detonator caps, detonating cord, and assembly tools. The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Subotica classified the case as illegal weapons and explosives trafficking linked to suspected sabotage.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić informed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán by phone within hours. Orbán convened an emergency session of Hungary's Defence Council the same day and ordered military protection for the Hungarian section of the pipeline from the Serbian border to Slovakia.
What Belgrade said and what it did not
Đuro Jovanić, director of Serbia's Military Security Agency (VBA), said at a press conference on April 5 that the agency had warned the government "for months" that gas infrastructure could be targeted, but met with "scepticism." The suspect, he said, was "a member of a group of draft-age migrants" with professional military training. "The suspect will definitely be taken into custody," Jovanić stated.
He was explicit on one point: "It is not true that Ukrainians tried to organize this sabotage." He added that while detonators recovered at the scene bore markings indicating American manufacture, this did not indicate who had organized the attempt.
No arrest has been announced since.
The competing narratives
Orbán used the incident to reinforce his anti-Ukraine campaign messaging in the days before Hungary's April 12 parliamentary election, stopping short of formally accusing Kyiv but saying Ukraine had "for years been trying to cut Europe off from Russian energy."
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry rejected any involvement. Spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi wrote that the incident was "most probably a Russian false-flag operation aimed at influencing Hungarian elections."
The claim had been anticipated. Hungarian Russia analyst András Rácz had published a warning three days before the discovery, on April 2, predicting that a staged attack on the Serbian section of TurkStream could be presented as Ukrainian. Former Hungarian counter-intelligence officer Péter Buda told the BBC his team had advance knowledge of the operation's location and timing.
Orbán lost the April 12 election in a landslide. Péter Magyar's Tisza party secured 138 of 199 parliamentary seats. During his campaign, Magyar had described the pipeline incident as a potential false-flag operation and called for a transparent investigation.
The investigation today
More than a month after the discovery, no suspect has been publicly identified, charged, or detained. The Subotica prosecution has not issued any subsequent statements on the case's status that have reached international media. Serbia's Defence Ministry has not commented publicly on the investigation since early April.
Hungary's incoming Magyar government has indicated it intends to review the incident, though no formal investigation has been announced.
Why TurkStream matters to Türkiye
TurkStream remains the only active pipeline route for Russian gas into Europe. Türkiye serves as the transit hub and BOTAŞ, the state gas monopoly, controls key booking capacity on the line. Any physical damage to the Balkan Stream extension would directly affect gas volumes transiting through Türkiye, disrupting both the pipeline's commercial operations and Ankara's position as an energy corridor between Russia and Central Europe. Hungary's gas dependency on TurkStream grew by an estimated 24 percent in the first half of 2025.
***This report is based on statements from the Serbian Presidency, Serbia's Military Security Agency (VBA), the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Subotica, Hungary's Defence Council, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, and reporting by RFE/RL, Euronews, CNN, and Kyiv Post. No arrest has been confirmed by Serbian authorities as of the date of publication.