Text taken from the Telegram channel of cs_association_0
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] We missed it, but it turns out that two days ago marked the 26th anniversary of the murder of one of the most notorious, energetic, and charismatic figures in the post-Yugoslav ballad.
On January 15, 2000, crime boss, Serbian ultra, and commander of the Serbian Volunteer Guard, Željko Ražnatović "Arkan" was assassinated.
It's unlikely you'll find a more daring villain in the Balkans than him. The son of a Yugoslav officer and a WWII veteran, he was drawn to evil and condemned things from childhood. Even as a child, he stole, ran away from home, and lived as a street child. All this led him first to prison, and then into a more developed criminal world. Thus, he became involved in a criminal network, and a whole series of adventures began: bank robberies, armed robberies, and escapes straight from prisons across Europe.
As a result, he was wanted by Interpol. By the early 1990s, "Arkan" was already considered one of the most influential criminal figures in Yugoslavia. He had his own ultras group of fans of the Red Star football club, attended matches, and was constantly making headlines for some attack or shootout.
However, after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the secession of Croatia in 1990, Željko took an unprecedented step: intervening in the potential war by creating his own unit, the "Serbian Volunteer Guard." His brigade fought against Croats and Bosniaks wherever possible, constantly moving from one front to another.
As a Serbian nationalist, "Arkan" believed that he had a duty to engage in this war and to choose the side of his people. All his men, disabled during the war and previously without permanent housing, received apartments as gifts from him. Well, he was incredibly generous to his subordinates, that's a fact.
After the Croatian and Bosnian wars, "Arkan" went into politics and began developing his own business, where the money circulated on an astronomical scale. However, in 1999, when NATO unleashed aggression against the FRY, "Arkan" was planning to return to war, gathering veterans and reservists, but he didn't have time.
Belgrade was uninterested in the "SDH" participating in the war, believing it could undermine the prestige of the authorities themselves. "Arkan" was wanted in The Hague for crimes and was hated by Bosnians and Croats, but he didn't particularly care – he called all the accusations against him false.
On January 15, 2000, the legendary Serbian nationalist was assassinated inside the Continental Hotel in Belgrade. He suffered three gunshot wounds and died in his wife's arms during an emergency evacuation to the hospital. Several of his friends, including his bodyguard, were killed along with him. The actual killer was police officer Dobrosav Gavrić, who shot them all on a political order (reportedly from Milošević).Gavrich himself fled to South America, and from there to South Africa.
Thus ended the life of one of the most notorious gangsters and nationalists in Balkan history.
If he hadn't been killed in 2000, "Arkan" could have been extradited to The Hague after Milošević's overthrow, like Karadžić and Mladić, as well as Milošević himself.