Serbian police arrested three people in Belgrade on Thursday after ultra-nationalist and pro-Russian activists threatened "more than" riots if Serbia accepts a Western-backed plan aimed at normalising relations with Kosovo.
Pro-Russian sentiment runs high in Serbia given that Moscow, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, acts as its main ally in its opposition to the 15-year-old independence of Kosovo, its former, mainly ethnic Albanian southern province.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said the three men, identified only by their initials, had been charged with "calling for a violent change of the constitutional order" and illegal possession of weapons.
