In January, Momcilo Gajic was photographed in an Orthodox church in Moscow, showing a prominent position in the religious community. However, European security agencies see him as a suspect. Gajic and another individual known as 'Hunter' are accused of orchestrating acts of provocation in France and Germany, allegedly under orders from Russian intelligence services, with the aim of fostering religious and ethnic hatred.

The investigation, based on court verdicts obtained by BIRN, details how Gajic and 'Hunter' led a group of at least 13 people who carried out acts of vandalism in Paris and Berlin. These acts included the placement of stickers alluding to the massacre of Orthodox Armenian, painting Jewish sites with green paint, placing pig heads in front of mosques, and placing plastic skeletons in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Serbian authorities arrested 11 alleged members of the group, but not Gajic or 'Hunter', who are fugitives. Three of those arrested accepted plea bargains, being convicted of espionage, membership of a criminal organization and racial discrimination.

The Smederevo verdicts reveal that Gajic and 'Hunter' received orders, instructions, and funds from the intelligence services of the Russian Federation. It is unknown how Gajic managed to evade arrest, but BIRN was able to track him to Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. In Moscow, Gajic has influential connections, including Bishop Stefan, who studied in the Russian capital and received Vladimir Putin during his last visit to Serbia in 2019.

The actions attributed to Gajic resemble other vandalism operations allegedly sponsored by the Kremlin in recent years. These operations, according to European security agencies, seek to destabilize the situation in Europe. The Serbian courts determined that Gajic's aim in Paris was to “incite religious and ethnic intolerance and to destabilize the situation in Paris and the French Republic”.

Gajic recruited his operatives, paying between 500 and 1,500 euros per operation, plus travel expenses. He delegated recruitment to Bogdan Djinovic, who found most of the recruits in his hometown of Velika Plana. Among the recruits was Aleksandar Savic, who later accepted a plea bargain. Djinovic and two other members of the group were arrested in France.

Savic was sentenced to 18 months in prison for espionage, membership of a criminal organization and racial discrimination, while the other two received house arrest. The verdicts repeatedly state that Gajic and Hunter acted under the orders and with the funding of Russian intelligence services. Gajic has connections with the Serbian Orthodox Church since his youth, including his time at a church-affiliated rehabilitation center.

Gajic has had a long connection with the Serbian Orthodox Church, including from his youth when he was sent to a church-affiliated rehabilitation center. In an interview, Gajic mentioned his struggle with video game addiction and how the church played a role in his rehabilitation.

After rehabilitation, Gajic worked as a waiter in a nightclub. In 2015, a former Novi Sad city councilor registered an NGO on Gajic's behalf, called Ravnicar. The NGO received at least 36,000 euros in funding for various projects from the city of Novi Sad. In 2023, Gajic hosted the Feast of the Ascension in the Ascension Church in Novi Sad, a role he will play again in Moscow next year for St. Sava's Day.

To identify and match members of the group allegedly organized by Gajic and 'Hunter', BIRN used open-source intelligence tools. These tools included osint.industries, based on a publicly visible phone number, usernames, and an email address. PimEyes was also used to match visual identities, GoodTape to generate transcripts of YouTube material, Google Maps and the cadastral register to verify locations, and NotebookLM to support the partial analysis of court documents.