PM: Serbs fight on both sides in Ukraine

PM: Serbs fight on both sides in Ukraine

Vučić said the development was "very harmful to our country," and that "dozens of people from Serbia are fighting on both sides."

"We are working together with all international intelligence agencies. Any involvement of Serbian citizens in the Ukrainian crisis is detrimental to Serbia," Vučić said.

The prime minister also urged all Serbia to return to their country "and think of their homes and families instead of fighting for a few thousand dollars."

"Serbia has no part in that conflict. Serbia has a responsible policy. We are not able to take legal action, but we pay more and more attention to the people returning from Syria and Iraq and to those involved in the conflict in Ukraine. We monitor their activities in the country," he told reporters.

Vučić called on all the Serbian citizens fighting in Ukraine to return to their country and take care of their families, adding that it was not their job to fight a war in another country for USD 6,000 or USD 1,200, depending on how much they were paid.

These people are mercenaries in 90 percent of the cases and have links to the most important intelligence agencies, he noted, refusing to comment on how they joined the pro-Russian or other forces.

Vučić said that he had accepted the proposal of cabinet minister Rasim Ljajić to amend the Criminal Code so that fighting in wars abroad would be punishable as a serious offense.

"Serbia is pursuing a responsible policy of not participating in these conflicts. For Serbia and the Serbian people, the wars are long over. We look to a peaceful future in which we think about how to be economically most advanced country in the region in 2016," he was quoted as saying.

Ljajić has repeatedly spoken about "the dogs of war", while the Security Information Agency, BIA, recently said that Serbian citizens fighting abroad, especially in Islamic countries, are becoming "a security threat to Serbia and the region."

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported on Tuesday that a group of Serb volunteers clashed with the Ukranian army on a key highway in the east.

Military analyst Aleksandar Radić commented on the news to say that it was it was "clear" that there was no organized departure of volunteers from Serbia, and that the state was not behind their participation in the war.