Andonov: The balkans are Moscow’s hybrid weapon against the EU and NATO

Russia is pursuing a deliberate strategy to turn the Balkans into an internal European front, using hybrid warfare tools to weaken democracies, NATO, and the European Union.

This was the warning issued by Professor Oliver Andonov during an international conference on the defense of democracy and European security.

Speaking on the panel titled “The War in Ukraine, Hybrid Warfare in Europe, and the Global Battle for Democracy,” Andonov stressed that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is not an isolated conflict, but part of a multidimensional war against the Western democratic order.

“Ukraine is the military dimension of the war. The Balkans, meanwhile, represent the hybrid dimension,” Andonov said, underlining that Moscow is exploiting the region’s historical vulnerabilities, political divisions, and unresolved tensions to destabilize Europe from within.

According to him, Russia is combining military force, disinformation, political manipulation, and sovereigntist narratives to undermine public trust in democratic institutions and obstruct the Euro-Atlantic integration of Balkan countries.

“The objective is clear: to weaken NATO and the EU by polarizing societies and generating internal crises,” Andonov stated.

He identified three key concepts for understanding Russia’s strategy: resilience, defense, and sovereigntism. Ukraine, he argued, has demonstrated an extraordinary level of resilience, becoming a model for small states facing external pressure.

“By contrast, the Kremlin is promoting a sovereigntist narrative that portrays the West as weak and controlled, seeking to erode support for NATO and the EU—particularly in the Balkans,” he said.

Andonov warned that this strategy is targeting countries such as Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Bulgaria, where hybrid operations are fueled through media outlets, social networks, and local political actors.

“History, national myths, and unresolved conflicts are being weaponized,” he emphasized, adding that without stronger Western engagement, the region remains highly vulnerable to Russian influence.

According to Andonov, if the Balkans are destabilized, Europe loses a critical line of defense, while Russia gains a strategic advantage in its hybrid war against the West.

“The Balkans are not a periphery. They are a strategic node of European security,” he concluded, calling for stronger democratic resilience and closer Euro-Atlantic coordination in the face of authoritarian threats, reports Civiltoday./TheGeoPost.