Aleksandar Vučić said that the alleged coup was connected to the environmental protests scheduled to take place on Saturday in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade.

The Serbian head of state added that, based on information he received from Russian sources, mass riots were being prepared in the country with the aim of violently overthrowing the government.

“We received official information from the Russian Federation, information transmitted and brought through official channels. We are dealing with it. The Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) is responsible and the people specialized in that are doing their job,” he told reporters.

“Those who want to achieve some goals by force make a mistake. Serbia is developing and no one can stop it,” Vučić added.

The Saturday protests stem from the Serbian government’s decision to revive the Jadar project, which allows the Anglo-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto to extract lithium deposits in Serbia—one of the largest in Europe.

The project was previously halted in 2022 following widespread public protests.

Earlier, the Serbian daily “Vecernje Novosti” claimed to have obtained a “color revolution handbook” allegedly intended for activists participating in the ecological protests.

The newspaper claimed that the handbook outlines methods used in color revolutions in other countries, insinuating that the protests might be orchestrated from “centers of power” abroad.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin also claimed that the protests against the lithium mine resemble previous color revolutions in Europe.

“This is a classic scenario of color revolutions. We have seen it more than once, we have seen it in Ukraine. This is an attempt at a new Maidan and you can be 100% sure of it,” Vulin said, accusing “Western services” of complicity in organizing the demonstrations.

Serbia is among the few European nations that retained close ties with Russia after the latter launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

While Belgrade has condemned the invasion, its refusal to join international sanctions on Moscow has soured its relations with Kyiv and other western partners.

Vučić, Serbia’s populist president, is often accused of walking a tightrope between the country’s candidacy for the European Union and its traditional ties with Russia and China.