“Media, Organizations, Church”, The Geopost panelists reveal Russia’s disinformation methods in the Balkans

Disinformation in the Balkans – Russian influence was discussed on Thursday in Pristina in a panel of participants from the region organized by The Geopost.

All panelists shared their experiences related to Russia’s intentions to destabilize the region through disinformation of various kinds.

Boris Varga from Serbia showed how Serbia uses Russian propaganda for its own needs towards its neighbors.

“The increase in the presence of Russian propaganda in Serbia began much earlier than Russia’s total invasion of Ukraine.” The hybrid war was not only directed against Ukraine, but also against the West. The Western Balkans, a fragile region in terms of security, was an ideal place to create instability among the European Union’s neighbors. “Putin justified the annexation of Crimea with the example of Kosovo, although there were no similarities between Crimea and Kosovo,” said Varga.

Rosana Aleksoska from North Macedonia said that Russia’s influence in her country permeates not only through the media, but also through other platforms, including the Orthodox Church.

“Russia has nothing to offer the Balkan countries.” Russia is not only waging a war against Ukrainians in Ukraine, but it is a war against democracy, freedom, freedom of expression, against all democratic values that the world and open societies are really fighting for,” she said, adding that Russia’s influence as a terrorist and authoritarian state “we need to understand it in the context of the Balkan countries”.

Disinformation in Montenegro is being carried out with the aim of spreading the narrative that Montenegrins are the same people as Serbs, said Milan Jovanović.

“When we talk about Russia in Montenegro, we have to understand that we have to talk about a network. So I’m not just talking about the media and disinformation, I’m talking about different political parties, different Orthodox organizations that are very visible and are under the umbrella of the Serbian Church, and the Church, according to data from the last three years, is the most reliable,” he said.

He referred to the widespread narrative that Montenegro is Serbia and that this is a model used by Russia in Ukraine to claim that Ukrainians are no different from Russians.

“To show the extent of the Church’s support for the Russians, the Church has organized public events in support of Russia. In October 2022, the head of the Serbian church expressed his full support for Russian aggression. By making it the most reliable institution, you can know how infected society is.”

Gerta Zaimi from Albania said that her country was different from those of her predecessors and those of Russia’s neighboring countries because Albania was neither part of Yugoslavia nor the Soviet Union.

“Albania is totally dedicated to the West, so we can say that Russia enters Albania and spreads disinformation”, she said.

Zaimi pointed out several reasons why Russia is trying to intervene in Albania to spread misinformation. According to her, these are support for Kosovo’s independence, NATO membership, the war in Ukraine and Albania’s position on its side, as well as its role in the United Nations.

“Without many strong ties to religion, coexistence is very strong, but at the same time there is also a relationship that is slowly developing with religious institutions.” Russia has also intervened in this direction in recent years to create disinformation through propaganda and to create a rift in religious coexistence in Albania. Manipulation of news related to the war in Ukraine, manipulation of data related to the military situation of Russia on the territory of Ukraine. Manipulation of the situation in Kosovo is one of their goals and the further development of the dialog by blaming the Western partners for the failure of the further development of this dialog and by creating and feeding the anti-Western spirit even in the policies that the leadership of Kosovo is doing at this moment,” she said.

Disinformation in the Balkans was the topic of one of the panels at the Balkan Disinformation Summit, organized by The Geopost and bringing together experts in the field from different countries around the world in the capital.

/TheGeopost