Serbian volunteers have been fighting on the Russian side since Russia's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Competent authorities look through their fingers because Serbia has long been a Russian-colonial state, so they judge them when they really have to, and that they do very favourably. By the beginning of 2018, the High Court in Belgrade had convicted 28 Serbian citizens for participating in the war in Ukraine. Only four were stuck in prison, and all the others were given suspended sentences and are at liberty.