(...) Re: the 2 Serbian alleged journalists arrested and expelled from Mali a while back, probably set up the anti-French resentment, on Moscow's instructions (IMO)
Do you have some link on this? Why do you think they were working for the Russians? I would agree that if expelled it's probably true that they are pseudo journalist. Stop putting equality between us and Russians. It's such ignorant thing many westerners do. Yes we have good relationship with them. Also with EU, China and US (with last we had some disagreements in recent past, but we working over that. It was mainly their democrats fault ). You (NATO= US+ UK) think if some small country is not your bitch, then it must be Russian bitch? No we are nobody's bitch for now. Being small country we have to do little bit of bitching here and there for all major powers but Ruskies don't have monopoly on that.
What were those two guys doing there is probably dealing weapons. To rebels? Possibly, but not for Ruskies! For Serbia, and for some Serbian people in power. We recently we had big affair started by a whistleblowe (a worker in ammunition company).
Yanks selling weapons to terrorist left and right (sometimes to those fighting against them). Why should we have moral high ground on that?
Our weapons (not high tech, mainly ammunition, mines, grenades, etc) are present all over place. From Mid East to North Africa, (probably sub-Saharan too) even in Ukraine. Ruskies were pissed on us for that. Russian rebels was targeted with mortar grenade made in Serbia.
So no. Unless you have some proof they really worked for Russians, I'm telling you what they probably did.