Abstract: The article, based on the documents of the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, files for the first time introduced into scientific circulation, reveals the plans of the Russian Empire for economic penetration into the markets of Serbia and other Balkan countries in the late 19th and early 20th century. A special place in the economic strategy of the St. Petersburg ruling circles in relation to the Balkan region was played by the activities of the Russian Danube shipping company, which was assigned not only a commercial, but also a political role, as one of the important factors in strengthening Russian influence in the Balkan countries, primarily in Serbia. In addition, the development of navigation along the Danube in the late 19th and early 20th centuries allowed the Russian Empire to gain a foothold in the oil markets of both the Balkan countries and Austria-Hungary and Germany. In 1914–1915, military cargo was transported to Serbia in a Special Purpose Expedition headed by M. M. Veselkin, using the ships and barges of the Russian Danube Shipping Company. That was an important factor in Russian–Serbian military cooperation during the First World War.

Keywords: Russian Empire, Danube, Serbia, Yu. E. Gagarin-Sturdza, Milan Obrenović, Aleksandar Obrenović, E. L. Kochetov, N. V. Charykov, A. I. Persiani, S. Yu. Witte, М. М. Veselkin