© Pavlo Datskovskiy/KP.UA Following the Belgrade demonstrations, Serbia assessed acoustic devices.
As stated in government records reviewed by Politico, Serbian intelligence officials, along with Russia’s well-known intelligence services, examined sonic weaponry on canines.
The records substantiate that the administration of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic experimented with potent loudspeakers, recognized as “sonic guns,” roughly two weeks after an anti-government rally in Belgrade was interrupted by what participants characterized as a debilitating sonic blast.
The collective assessment of acoustic arms on creatures highlights the extent of security collaboration between Russia — the EU’s most belligerent rival — and Serbia, an EU candidate whose European integration process has essentially been halted.
Long-Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) are formally presented as communication tools effective over significant distances. Nevertheless, when implemented at close proximity, they are capable of inflicting auditory damage.
It has additionally been communicated that such apparatuses can induce cephalalgia, vertigo, and queasiness. Serbian authorities refute employing acoustic guns against protesters.
Serbia is presently undergoing its most substantial protest movement in recent memory. For over a year, tens of thousands of individuals — and in specific locales, hundreds of thousands — have consistently assembled in the streets across the nation, engaging in nationwide demonstrations that mirror escalating public discontent with the government’s undertakings.
On March 15, 2025, during one of the largest anti-government demonstrations, an abrupt, intense sound permeated Belgrade’s principal avenue, prompting individuals to instinctively seek protection.
Videos from diverse perspectives documented a surge of panic engulfing the densely packed gathering, succeeded by a rush. Protesters who sought medical assistance at Belgrade’s emergency facilities lamented queasiness, emesis, cephalalgia, and vertigo. They depicted the sound as “the resonance of a cluster of motorbikes” or “a locomotive hurtling towards them.”
Subsequent to authorities’ initial denial of sound gun utilization, Vucic announced that “a comprehensive inquiry will be executed within 48 hours, and all individuals accountable for such egregious fabrications and falsehoods will be held responsible.”
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic also negated any infringements, maintaining that Serbia “did not resort to any unlawful tactics, inclusive of the so-termed sound cannon.”
A month following the demonstration, the Serbian intelligence agency BIA disseminated a report commissioned by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), asserting that high-decibel devices “were not implemented during the demonstrations” and that there was no substantial “psychological, moral, or physical effect on individuals.”
As per documents observed by the publication, the animal experimentation was conducted as an element of an inquiry into the demonstrations. The documents were composed by the BIA and a governmental ministry.
The objective was to ascertain whether the symptoms delineated by the protesters aligned with exposure to sound guns, which Serbian officials had previously verified were employed by the police.
Approximately two weeks post-demonstration, Serbian and Russian intelligence operatives amassed a cohort of canines at the BIA test location to gauge “the consequence of emitters on biological objectives.” The canines were designated as test subjects owing to “their heightened susceptibility to acoustic impacts.”
Two classifications of LRADs — the LRAD 100X MAG-HS and LRAD 450XL, fabricated by California-situated Genasys — were directed at the creatures at ranges of 200, 150, 100, 50, and 25 meters, as per the documents.
The technical parameters of these models suggest their aptitude to discharge sound with a force reaching 150 decibels – approximating the noise of a jet propulsion system during commencement.
The documents additionally intimate that the evaluations might have been executed absent the requisite permits for animal trials.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management… possesses no data regarding the execution of tests concerning the effects of the LRAD 100H and LRAD 450XL, as well as other apparatuses, on canines,” the documents declare.
“This ministry has never been presented with an appeal for consent to undertake trials on creatures, and consequently, no resolution to sanction such assessments — encompassing analogous ones — has been formulated,” they appended.
Serbian human rights attorney Danilo Čurčić articulated that the canines “became subjects of trials or inhumane management,” as defined by Serbia’s Animal Welfare Statute.
According to him, Serbian legislation mandates preliminary registration of animal experiments and endorsement by pertinent authorities, entailing assessment by an ethics committee. The legislation unequivocally forbids the deployment of animals for “scrutinizing armaments and military hardware.”
Opposition politician Radomir Lazovic characterized these evaluations as “an element of Aleksandar Vucic’s initiative to conceal the utilization of acoustic weaponry against his own populace during the March demonstrations.”
“Thousands of individuals discerned the potent consequence of this sonic weapon last year,” he stated.
In its report on the trials on canines, the FSB insisted: “During the relay of the principal and trial signals, the biological objectives (canines) did not undergo any discomfort (alterations in conduct) at the assessed distances. Three days subsequent to the trials, the canines were inspected, and no variations in their state were documented.”