BIRN has identified Kubanac as Aleksandar Kubatovic, who publicly admitted joining Russian forces in Ukraine in 2023.
Believed to be in his forties, Kubatovic was reported dead in December by numerous Telegram channels covering the battlefront. BIRN could not independently confirm this.
In the November livestream, he was eventually removed after appearing with a cigarette and a knife. Ristic, as host, said TikTok had issued a warning.
“Explosives are ok, but not smokes,” commented one of the viewers.
At several points during the live stream, Ristic blocked certain people. Using pseudonyms, BIRN joined via a number of different accounts.
When asked by one of these accounts whether he planned to return to Russia, Ristic replied: “Yes, of course. I don’t know. It’s absolutely irrelevant whether I’d go or not. Guys, I’m a Russian citizen, so…”
Culibrk, Ristic’s lawyer, said he had no knowledge of his client’s TikTok activity, nor that it was pertinent to his case.
But Natasa Kilibarda, an analyst and digital forensics expert in Belgrade, Serbia, said Ristic’s live streams demonstrated just how far legal and security frameworks are behind the curve.
“This, let’s say, ‘aestheticization’ of war is particularly problematic, because even when we don’t see an explicit call for violence, the effect is that war is portrayed as something exciting, legitimate, and socially recognised,” Kilibarda told BIRN. “In the end, this has a classic propaganda effect.”
Kilibarda also stressed the failure of tech firms such as TikTok to respond.
Since the November live stream, Ristic has renamed his TikTok channel ‘FPV Dron Brzi’, brzi meaning ‘fast’.
Of late, his posts have contained only drone footage, which he also promotes on accounts of the same name on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment for this story.