Djuric: Putin has the most support in Serbia

The Serbian government is anti-democratic, anti-European and anti-Western, says Ivan Djuric, a policy analyst at CRTA, adding that this also poses a problem for civil society there to gain support from the West, due to its cooperation with the executive.

In an interview with The Geopost, Djuric talks about Serbia’s efforts to portray Russian President Vladimir Putin as a peacemaker, the Serbian government’s role in amplifying Russian propaganda, and the challenges civil society faces in trying to resist this influence. He says Putin has the most support in Serbia.

Full interview here:

The Geopost: How have you observed an increase of Russian disinformation efforts over the past month, particularly in light of President Trump’s push for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine?
Djuric: Well, what is clear from observing the global news, especially in Balkans and in Serbia, that so much misinformation, but coming from the core of the of the message, and then all the instruments that they use in this manipulation that would present, Putin as some kind of a peacemaker.

That stands against all the facts and all that we know, not only since February 22, but even before that. I like the clarity of the term Putin’s war, because I think this is exactly what this is. And I’m hoping that, not hoping, I’m sure that in order to achieve peace, we first must fight this disinformation that is, some kind of a self-defense act on behalf of Russia. No, it’s an aggression on Ukraine. It is Putin’s war and it is very important to fight this misinformation.

The Geopost: How much is disinformation present in Serbia?

Djuric: Very similar to Russian narrative, not only because we have three major Russian outlets in in Serbia and this web of sharing news and sharing information with pro-government portals.
Serbia’s current government under President Vučić is based on spreading misinformation, against, smearing everyone else, the opposition parties, the civil society, citizens who oppose them.

Misinformation, towards, European Union and the political West, very present. But also, of course, glorification of President Vučić and everything he does. We have, five televisions with national coverage in in Serbia, at least four of them are in service of spreading this kind of propaganda. And also, the newspapers, they’re so open in this, so not ashamed, that we question ourselves sometimes, who can believe these things? But people are exposed to that and in a way, we can’t blame them.

The Geopost: What steps should Balkan countries take to effectively counter Russian disinformation campaigns?

Djuric: It’s an unfair fight against misinformation. It’s an unfair fight. Our hands are tied in our standards, in the way we do things, professionally, politely. Our opponent is using everything from their arsenal. So, it is very different. But from our experience in Serbia, this past six months, when people start to care about media literacy, about what is true and what is not true, when it has some connection to their life, we hoped that a number of refugees from Russia that came to Serbia after the war started, that that will help in a way fighting against this Russian propaganda.

If you have tens of thousands of people who fled Putin’s regime, came to Belgrade.
But unfortunately, that didn’t happen because they were not many activists that came to Serbia, just regular people who wanted to continue with their lives. But they are a proof and that changed something in the way we see Russia’s war.
We, in our opinion polls that we do, we see that Putin is from the world leaders, that Putin has biggest support in Serbia. And that is logical having in mind that for past 20 years, (not only past three years), for 20 years he is seen as this great leader, but why is he a great leader? Because he’s a strong man, because he doesn’t respect the norms, the democracy. This is what people see in him and this is why people support him.
But now we see huge protests not only of opposition and civil society, but from the regular citizens against this kind of strong man in Serbia, in Vučić. So, it takes time to connect the dots. But, where democracy is not valued, this is the most fertile ground for misinformation.

The Geopost: You said that that civil society in Serbia, contrary to Kosovo civil societies, work against its government instead of helping it. Does that speak more of bad Serbian politics or civil societies?

Djuric: I see the difference between the relation of the civil society and not just the government, but wider, the state. Because the Kosovo civil society, I always, let’s say admired or was jealous of because they were on these major things, they were in line with the government, whichever the government is. And that is building democracy, building institutions, European path, clearly wanting to establish a society and a country based on Western values.

In Serbia is different. We come from these values, we do everything from these values, but our government is not like that. So, we are against the government in these very basic terms. And usually, it’s not a clear fight, because our government is pro-European. We are on accession path to the EU. We are steps ahead of Kosovo, but in its essence, Vučić’s government is anti-democratic and anti-European and anti-Western. And so we are in this position that even our partners from the West, have a difficulty of putting trust in civil society in Serbia because they have the government they are working with. But I hope times are changing. I hope that everything will be clearer in the future to see who is who and what is what, who really stands for democracy and EU integration and against Putin’s war and Putin’s view of the world and the future of the world, and who is on the other side.
And, then when the skies are clearer, then the fight against misinformation will be easier, I think./The Geopost/