Serbian intelligence services have tested high-powered sonic devices on dogs, in collaboration with the notorious Russian security service, according to government documents obtained by POLITICO.
Documents confirm that President Aleksandar Vučić's administration has conducted experiments with high-intensity loudspeakers, otherwise known as "sound cannons," two weeks after an anti-government protest in Belgrade was disrupted by what protesters described as a paralyzing sonic blast.
The joint testing of sonic weapons on animals highlights the depth of security cooperation between Russia — the EU's most aggressive adversary — and Serbia, a candidate country for EU membership but with a stalled process and a government facing serious challenges.
Long-Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) are marketed for long-distance communication, but when used up close they can cause hearing damage. They have also been reported to cause headaches, dizziness and nausea. The Serbian government has denied using them against demonstrators.
Serbia is experiencing its largest protest movement in decades. For more than a year, tens of thousands of citizens — sometimes hundreds of thousands — have taken to the streets across the country, staging regular nationwide protests that reflect growing anger at the government.
On March 15, 2025, during one of the largest protests, a loud, deafening noise reverberated down Belgrade’s main boulevard, causing panic and forcing the crowd to seek shelter. Videos filmed from multiple angles show the shock spreading through the dense crowd before people ran away. Protesters who presented themselves at Belgrade emergency rooms reported nausea, vomiting, headaches and dizziness, describing the sound as “a group of motorcyclists” or “a locomotive” coming towards them.
After initially dismissing allegations that the authorities had used a sound cannon, Vučić declared that “a full investigation will be conducted within 48 hours and then all those responsible for these fabrications and brutal lies will be held accountable before the authorities.” Interior Minister Ivica Dačić also denied any wrongdoing, insisting that Serbia “has not used any illegal means, including a so-called sound cannon.”
A month after the protest, the Serbian intelligence agency, BIA, published a report commissioned by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), which claimed that high-decibel devices "were not used during the protests" and that there had been no massive "psychological, moral or physical" impact on people.
Serbia's Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Animal testing
According to documents obtained by POLITICO, the animal tests were conducted as part of a post-protest investigation and were prepared by the BIA and a government ministry. The aim was to assess whether the symptoms reported by protesters were consistent with the effects of sound cannons, which Serbian officials had previously acknowledged were in the possession of police.
About two weeks after the protest, Serbian and Russian intelligence specialists gathered a group of dogs at a BIA testing center to assess “the effect of emitters on biological objects.” The dogs were chosen because of their “high sensitivity to acoustic effects.”
The animals were exposed to two LRAD models — the LRAD 100X MAG-HS and the LRAD 450XL — manufactured by the American company Genasys, at distances of 200, 150, 100, 50, and 25 meters.
The data sheets for these models show that they can emit sounds of up to 150 decibels, equivalent to the noise of an airplane engine during takeoff. The documents also suggest that the tests may have been conducted without the necessary legal approvals for animal experiments.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management… has no information on whether tests on the effects of LRAD 100H and LRAD 450XL, as well as other tests on dogs, have been conducted,” the documents state. “This ministry has never received a request for approval to conduct animal tests and, consequently, no decision has been issued to approve them.”
Serbian human rights lawyer Danilo Ćurčić stated that the dogs “have been subjected to experiments or abuse,” according to the provisions of the Law on Animal Welfare in Serbia. He noted that the law requires that experiments on animals be registered in advance and approved by competent bodies, including an ethics commission, and expressly prohibits the testing of weapons and military equipment on animals.
Radomir Lazović, an opposition politician, called the tests “part of a campaign by Aleksandar Vučić to cover up the use of sound cannons against his citizens during the March protests.”
"Since last year, thousands of people have felt the massive effects of this sonic weapon in their bodies," he said.
In the report on the experiments on dogs, the FSB insisted that: “During the transmission of basic and test signals, biological objects (dogs) did not feel any discomfort (changes in behavior) at the tested distances. The dogs were checked three days after the tests and did not show any changes in their condition.”
