Russian disinformation in the Balkans, Brkan: Russia is investing in Serbia and Montenegro

Russian disinformation is widespread in the Western Balkans, while Russia is investing in Serbia and Montenegro, CA Why Not executive director Darko Brkan said in an interview with The Geopost.

According to him, the situation differs from country to country. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, he said, public services paid for with citizens' money are promoting pro-Russian narratives.

He also spoke about the Point 13 conference, held in Sarajevo, an important regional event focused on deeper cooperation and addressing the most important challenges facing civil society and the media. He underlined that defending democracy requires a joint effort from all sectors of civil society.

Full interview:

The Geopost: What is the main vision behind the POINT 13 conference?

Brkan: The POINT conference, which we have been organizing for 13 years, has always been a space where we have tried to bring together activists, journalists, academics from the region to discuss current issues and to present to people in the region and beyond their projects, what they are currently doing, the initiatives they are working on, as well as to discuss current problems and solutions in the fields of civil society, media, politics and the use of technology.

This year, the basic theme is not much different, but the focus is still on the current situation, the problems that are happening and some global changes in the way civil society, media and their role are perceived. And then this year we want to work more on sessions where people, activists can exchange information with each other, develop strategies, and less on sessions that present, design and conclude some initiatives, but somehow we want to deal with the essence of the existence of civil society, media and their work and their future.

The Geopost: What kind of impact do you hope POINT 13 will have, both locally and internationally on the media, civil society, or policy-making community?

Brkan: We hope specifically that POINT 13 will open up somehow, initially a discussion and conversation between civil society, media and pro-democracy actors about what we should do in these moments and how to handle things. Because I think that recently, especially the last few months, we have been more worried about ourselves and our survival, we have not talked much, we have talked, but somehow we want to provide a forum where regional civil society will start talking about this at a strategic level. I think that is the most important thing. We do not expect now that tomorrow we will come up with a magic solution for civil society to survive and become stronger, but at least to start that conversation, to set some strategic guidelines and finally to understand if we can benefit from this, which seems like a difficulty for the functioning of civil society, it seems like a difficult situation and we can see this as an opportunity.

The Geopost: How widespread is Russian disinformation in the Balkans and which countries are most affected?

Brkan: When it comes to Russian disinformation in the region, there are two levels of answers to the question. The first is how present are the actors who come directly from Russia to the region and deal with disinformation, and to what extent are the themes and narratives actually present in the region. The answer to the first question is that Russia, as someone who acts as a foreign actor in the region, has a limited presence. On the other hand, the themes and narratives are very entrenched. Because we have a lot of local actors who, even in cases where there is no direct benefit, let's say, financial or management from the Russian actors, are working and promoting the same narratives. So I would say that this is quite widespread in the region, but at the same time I would say that it may not necessarily be a direct Russian influence, as much as there are local actors who support Russia, and this varies from country to country. For example, Russian investments in Montenegro or Serbia are larger than in Bosnia and Herzegovina (I don't know about other countries).

It all depends on how much need there is, or in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, we have a situation where even public services paid for with citizens' money are promoting pro-Russian narratives. Well, it doesn't take a huge financial investment to achieve something. So, the situations in the countries are different, but in each country there is a very strong presence of Russian disinformation.

The Geopost: How important is the fight against disinformation, especially in the context of preserving democratic institutions and social cohesion in the Western Balkans?

Brkan: I think all of this is part of a broader environment or a broader social problem where the information sector and generally the places where people get information have become important in their lives, so the spread of disinformation has become very important. So I think this fits into the whole strategy of preserving democracy, preserving values, preserving human rights and everything that civil society does.

In fact, POINT's message is that only together with organizations that deal with disinformation, organizations that deal with human rights, organizations that deal with democracy, organizations that deal with elections, organizations that deal with the rule of law, only together can we achieve results.

We need to let each other know that each of these segments is very important and that this is the only way to succeed.

/The Geopost