
The Western Balkans is facing disinformation from Russia, through which the latter tries to prevent its integration into the European Union. The spokeswoman of the European Union in Kosovo, Ioanna Lachana, says in an interview with The Geopost that in Kosovo, Russia tries to spread pro-Kremlin narratives and cast everything that is pro-Western in a negative light.
According to her, the moment this propaganda is repeated, there may be people who start to harbor anti-Western feelings.
“If information is manipulated, our public discourse is also affected. And the Western Balkans, of course, is no exception. Here too we see interference, especially from Russia, which is trying to disrupt the path of the partners of the Western Balkans, their path to the EU and the path of integration in the EU. Of course, no one can fight this phenomenon alone. We all have to work together, the community of defenders and everyone involved,” she says.
On the new US strategy to combat disinformation in Europe, especially in the Balkans, Lachana says that it includes supporting democracies, supporting free media as well as protecting human rights.
While she says that Russia’s influence is spreading throughout the region, the spokeswoman for the EU in Kosovo emphasizes that it uses different tactics. She draws attention to caution, as she points out that Russian disinformation, especially in Kosovo, can incite tensions.
“They use fake accounts, bots, they use a lot of social networks, they use a lot of artificial intelligence, but also machine translation, so that their product becomes available to more and more audiences, especially local audiences… At the moment that propaganda is repeated, there may be people who start to harbor anti-Western feelings. And in my opinion, this is bad, because in Kosovo, for example, there is a lot of support for EU integration and of course a pro-Western population. Imagine what would happen if this narrative were implemented, people would be less inclined to see Kosovo as part of the European Union or to undertake the necessary reforms to become a member of the EU, for example with inter-ethnic tensions that a new war can break out here. This is certainly very dangerous and can even inflame tensions,” she emphasizes.
Full interview:
The Geopost: How do you relate the new US strategy to fighting disinformation in Europe, especially in the Balkans?
Lachana: Thank you very much for the invitation. Indeed, there was a coordination mechanism between the US State Department and the European External Action Service for the Western Balkans with a focus on fighting foreign information manipulation and of course this includes propaganda and disinformation. It is not a strategy, a new strategy per se, it is actually a mechanism that will reinforce the synergies between the US and the EU. As you know very well, both the EU and the US have a very specific target, support democracies, support free media, defend human rights, and all this is part of this mechanism. We expect that this mechanism will help us reduce the impact of the efforts of third states, for example Russia, and their efforts for the foreign information manipulation and interference. We also expect to help our Western Balkan counterparts in creating resilient strategies, enhancing the capacities, of course in creating more independent media through this mechanism.
The Geopost: How does the EU access the current situation regarding the problem of disinformation propaganda in the Balkans?
Lachana: Indeed, disinformation is something that affects the whole world actually. It knows no geographic nor thematic boundaries. And due to the latest geopolitical developments, new threats emerged and we see now a more prominent foreign information manipulation and interference. In particular, for example, a prime example is Russia. For this, and its war against Ukraine, they employ this so-called FIMI (Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference) in order to justify their war against Ukraine. Of course everybody can be a target of disinformation. Our liberal democracies are a target of disinformation because they rely practically on open information flow and free information flow. And when the information is manipulated, then our public discourse is also affected. And the Western Balkans, this is no exception either. We see also here interference, in particular, as well, by Russia, trying to derail the path of the Western Balkans partners, their EU path, and the EU integration path. Of course, this phenomenon, nobody can fight alone. No country can fight this phenomenon alone. We need to be all together, all countries together, cooperate, the defenders community and of course all stakeholders.
The Geopost: What is the most present propaganda of disinformation in Western Balkans?
Lachana: What we see and also in particular also in Kosovo, is this anti-Western Russian narrative. They’re trying to push this pro-Kremlin narratives and frame everything that is pro-Western in a negative sense. So we are seeing here that Russia is trying to derail the clear EU path of all six Western Balkan partners to become and to create fear, hatred and have more people be less supportive of the EU path or the Western Balkan partners.
The Geopost: Kosovo is most pro-Western country in the region and also is the most anti-Russia oriented, then we have Serbia, where most of the media there are pro-Russian and spreading Russian propaganda in the region, how do you see solution to this problem?
Lachana: Well, the solution is not easy. In order to have a solution you first need to map and totally identify the problem. What we have seen for example is that Russia’s influence extends in the whole region in different degrees but in the whole region. And we see that they employ several tactics. They use fake accounts, bots, they use extensively social media networks, they use extensively AI but also machine translations so that their product becomes available to more and more audiences, in particular local audiences. And here I’ll give you an example of the example of Montenegro. Some years ago there was a campaign by Russia to practically present the then government as corrupt and as servile to the EU and NATO agendas. Or for example we know very well that in Belgrade we have RT Balkans and Sputnik Serbia. Of course, this media disseminates Kremlin-based propaganda and frames everything that is Western as negative. Coming closer, coming to Kosovo, indeed the impact is less, however, Kosovo is not immune to Russian propaganda either. As I mentioned before, we see that there are several narratives, Russian Kremlin-based narratives including, for example, about the EU facilitated dialogue, that the Ohrid agreement was something like an extortion, this is how it was presented by Russian media. And of course, this was rebutted by the EU versus Disinfo, this publicly available database of Kremlin narratives, propaganda that the EU has set up. There is nothing innocent in this. The moment this propaganda keeps on being repeated, there might be people who start feeling, having more anti-western sentiments. And in my view, this is bad because for example in Kosovo we have a very huge support for EU integration and pro-western population.
Imagine what would happen if this narrative was to take hold. We would see people less prone to see Kosovo as part of the European Union or to do the reforms required to become an EU member state, for example. Or we saw also propaganda in relation to inter-ethnic tensions that a new war could break out here. Needless to say, that this is very dangerous, this can even fuel tensions. So that’s why the EU has always been saying that disinformation also is a matter of security. And fighting disinformation is a battle that affects all of us. And when I say all of us, I don’t mean only at the higher level, for example, at the government level, or at institutions level, or for example, only media, or only the EU. We need to all come together and fight this phenomenon, together with the defender community, together also with the civil society, but each and every one of us personally. We also need to be personally very careful about what kind of media content we consume and check all the time the sources so that we also do not fall prey of propaganda and disinformation.
The Geopost: We talk a lot about the Russian but we have presence from China’s propaganda now involved. How do you see the situation in this problem?
Lachana: Indeed, China is another actor. They employ several tactics that span from, for example, being in public diplomacy, but also active suppression of every critical voice. China, for example, not only pursues and pushes its own propaganda, every critical voice, every narrative, critical narrative that might be against the official Chinese line is also often suppressed. China uses usually their economic leverage but also their media footprint trying to influence the media coverage about China. The EU recently sponsored a BIRN publication; it’s called The Story of Our Lives, which also says that we in Kosovo, there were some Chinese media, but government-sponsored Chinese media. And these articles actually made it to Kosovo media in the Albanian language, mostly about economy and health. And this was a very interesting finding of this report.
The Geopost: And what is the future of funding for supporting NGOs and media from EU strategy, not just for Kosovo, but the Balkans?
Lachana: Well, as you know, the EU is the biggest provider of financial support for Kosovo. And of course we never exclude the NGOs and the civil society organizations and of course media. Our main target is independence of media, transparency and pluralism. Just to mention that from 2014 if I’m not mistaken until 2023 we have given grants of 33 million euros to civil society organizations and media. The way we design our approach is practically through consultations. Consultations with the community, consultations among us and of course with all the donors. We see what is needed in Kosovo and this is how we usually design the grants. And we will keep on supporting both media and civil society in Kosovo because these critical voices need to be present in the society and these are the ones that actually help Kosovo progress and every country as well. The EU’s commitment to civil society and media expands way beyond Kosovo. It’s actually worldwide, but in particular also for the Western Balkans, the EU is highly supportive of media and civil society organizations.
/The Geopost