Rizanaj: Through the Serbian List, the aim is for Serbia's hand to remain in Kosovo

The influence of external actors in the electoral processes in Kosovo continues to be a major concern, especially through means of propaganda and disinformation. It is Serbia that, through the Serbian List, aims to maintain its influence in Kosovo, says university professor Festim Rizanaj in an interview with The Geopost.

According to him, through disinformation and propaganda before and after the February 9 elections in Kosovo, Serbia has tried to influence the shaping of political perceptions and undermine democratic processes in Kosovo.

Festim Rizanaj, who is also a senior researcher at Hibrid.info, also shares his observations on the efforts of Russian media to influence Serbian public opinion in Kosovo. He talks about the role of Telegram, the spread of manipulative narratives, as well as the latest trends in disinformation during and after the election campaign.

Full interview:

The Geopost: You published a report on your one-year work, which also included the elections in Kosovo. What irregularities did you identify in these elections?

Rizanaj: Yes, we published an annual summary where we tried to present the state of disorder in Kosovo in general. Even during this period, if we take it from April 2, 2024, to April 2, 2025, then it is seen that, some topics have been circulating.

In the first part of the year, the arming of the KSF was one of the disinformation topics where there were various claims about arming the KSF with heavy artillery, even though it is officially known that for example tanks and other forms of the KSF have not been supplied, which is publicly known and officially. While in the second part, from the moment that the President of the Republic, Vjosa Osmani, announced the date of the elections, we noticed that many different pages have been opened, especially on TikTok, different accounts, which have published information within which there has also been various disinformation, even up until the election period, on February 9, 2025, there has been various disinformation and this topic has been the topic that has dominated our monthly disinformation reports, where as I mentioned there have been different accounts, different users with names in support of different parties. There have also been various users or accounts that have been opened in the name of candidates for prime minister, within which they have published political accusations, as well as various disinformation.

A key element that was observed during the elections were the fake polls that were published on social media, because in our country, such a practice has been made that during the elections, polls were published by companies and agencies that measure public opinion, but old, manipulated, edited ones have circulated on social media, that is, polls through which public opinion was intended to be manipulated. There have also been some clickbait headlines that have circulated in the media regarding the inclusion in the list of candidates of one party or another, and this is what in a certain form of reflection can be presented specifically regarding the elections.

Regarding external influence during the elections, it has been observed that Serbia, specifically through institutional government officials, but also through the media, has tried to influence Serbian public opinion in Kosovo, through several attempts that they have made. For example, the financial support that has been given to the Serbian community here. Also the call to vote for the Serbian List with the narrative that only the Serbian List is the main representative of the Serbs of Kosovo. At the same time, through voting for the Serbian List, it is intended that Serbia's hand remains in Kosovo. Within this framework, there has also been a denigrating narrative towards the candidate or other party that has had the role of Minister for Returns and Communities Nenad Rašić, that is, a denigrating propaganda against him because he is Kurti's man, that is, he does not represent the Serbs of Kosovo and so on.

Likewise, Russian media, the Serbian-language service, Russia Today Balkans and Sputnik, have published various information and disinformation regarding the elections in Kosovo, with the idea that Kurti will manipulate the elections to the detriment of the Serbian List, Kurti will invent phantom voters in order to damage the Serbian List and prevent it from entering parliament.

The Geopost: Regarding Telegram channels, have you noticed any increased activity during the Kosovo elections, where we know that most of the propaganda and manipulation carried out by Russia is done through these channels?

Rizanaj: These channels have in some way amplified these narratives that have been published by Serbian officials and Serbian media, but also Russian ones, the service in Serbian. That is, these have also been placed on Telegram channels known as Bunt, Korridar, and others which in some way try to influence Serbian public opinion through these narratives, within which those of the media and Serbian officials are both published and amplified. Even in these elections, there was a narrative that the Serbian List should be voted for on these Telegram channels, meaning that this idea was promoted and a kind of campaign was made against it, as I also mentioned to Minister Nenad Rašić on Telegram.

The Geopost: And the latest monitoring report for this month, what does it tell us?

Rizanaj: As I mentioned, in the previous months, especially February, January and December, the pre-campaign and the election campaign have influenced this topic to dominate, disinformation or misinformation. In March we had something else, if we can call it that, there were some political accusations on social media that have circulated, because usually this is a kind of expression where they manipulate some videos or publish some photos with the idea that this politician or this official has said this about this or that about this topic. That is, this has been the topic that has dominated.

There are also various fraudulent SMS messages circulating on social media in order to manipulate the audience, as a prize game or with the idea that they provide various loans and so on.

One of the topics was again the arming of the KSF, with speculation about how many helicopters the KSF will receive, and misinformation has also been circulating on social media that the KSF is being supplied with anti-aircraft guns from Turkey, although officially it is not known what and how. This has been one of the topics on which the most misinformation has been spread in March. If we move on to the monitoring that we have done of the Serbian media regarding what is being misinformed there, there have been conspiracy theories about the chaos that occurred in the Serbian Parliament, with the idea that this is happening with the support of Prime Minister Kurti or that his idea is being taken to create such chaos in the parliament and he is very pleased that such a mess occurred in the parliament, with the idea that the opposition is in some way serving him. There have also been conspiracy theories related to the narrative that the defense agreement that was made between Kosovo, Albania and Croatia was interpreted as a form of endangering Serbia or where the main goal is Serbia in relation to this agreement, that is, such a narrative has been built. The football match for qualifications between Albania and England was also used and some disinformation was published that there was a chant of "Kosovo is Serbia" by English fans, which did not turn out to be the case. It was also claimed that a banner opened by the red and black fans of the Albanian national team where "21 years we are together here", implying that 21 years means the creation of the fandom, they linked it to the fact that 21 years falls in some form with the mention of the March riots, which took place in 2004, that is, 21 years they commemorate the March riots, such disinformation that had no basis.

/The Geopost