BELGRADE — Serbia has arrested 11 of its citizens on suspicion of high-profile hate crimes in Berlin and Paris — involving pigs’ heads and green paint — that were widely viewed as seeking to stir up tensions between religious groups in Western capitals over the war in Gaza.

The Serbian interior ministry said the main organizer of the group with the initials M.G. was still on the run and had acted on the “instructions of a foreign intelligence service.”

Since Stars of David were painted across Paris in 2023, French authorities have told the media that they have been seeking to stop Russian attempts to sow instability. The Serbian interior ministry gave no indication of which “foreign intelligence service” was involved in the more recent offences.

The Serbian ministry said the 11 detainees were part of a group of 14 and that their activities between April and September 2025 had included “throwing green paint on the Holocaust [memorial in Paris], several synagogues and a Jewish restaurant.”

The individuals also placed “pigs’ heads near Muslim religious buildings, all in the Paris area, as well as in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin,” the statement continued.

The ministry added the group had “aimed to spread ideas that advocate and incite hatred, discrimination and violence” based on “differences in race, skin color, religious affiliation, nationality and ethnic origin.”

The suspects are being held in Smederevo, a city close to the capital Belgrade, as they await questioning within the next 48 hours.

The government, led by the Serbian Progressive Party, maintains a strong relationship with the Kremlin. It recently promoted a report by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that claimed the EU is fomenting a “color revolution” in Serbia by supporting months-long anti-government protests.

Serbia did not join the EU’s sanctions on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and operates regular flights to St. Petersburg and Moscow.