Serbia's top military leadership said that Ukraine was not behind the explosives that were found on Serbian territory near the '"Turkish Stream" gas pipeline, through which Russian gas reaches Hungary, Politico reported.
The statement comes in response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who hinted that Kiev was involved.
On April 5, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that authorities had found "an explosive with devastating power" near the gas pipeline a week before Hungary's general elections on April 12.
For his part, Orbá called an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council, after which he said that Serbian authorities had uncovered a "sabotage operation" in Vojvodina, Serbia, and had apparently linked it to Ukraine, which he said had "worked for years to cut Europe off from Russian energy" and posed a "direct threat to Hungary", although he did not formally accuse Kiev.
In response, Đuro Jovanić, director of Belgrade's Military Security Agency (VBA), explained that "it is not true that the Ukrainians tried to organize" the plot, which includes "explosives, specially packaged, hermetically sealed detonator capsules".
"The manufacturer of the explosives does not mean that he is also the one who ordered or executed them", he explained, adding that "the markings on the explosives indicate that they were made in the USA".
Orban's claims of sabotage were also met with skepticism by his main political opponent, Peter Magyar, who stressed that Orban is potentially conducting a false flag operation with the help of the Serbs and Russians due to the collapse of support for his "Fidesz" party.
"If Viktor Orban and his propaganda use this provocation for campaign purposes, this will be an open admission that this is a pre-planned false flag operation," Magyar specified.
The spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry "categorically" denied any responsibility and sharply criticized attempts to "falsely connect Ukraine". He said the alleged plot was "most likely a Russian false flag operation" before the elections.