Russian invasion in the Serbian media – Russia’s justification, the West and Ukraine are aggressors

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a double war has been waged: on the battlefield and on social networks and internet portals. In the context of the war in Ukraine, these are mostly pro-Russian narratives that aim to portray Ukraine as a “Nazi” country, and Russia only as a country that actually comes to the aid of the citizens of Ukraine.

In the Serbian media, which deals with spreading Russian propaganda, inciting hatred, causing panic, we can read every day about how the West is to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, then glorification of Russian President Vladimir Putin, cover-up of crimes, and about the dead civilians, we can find them standing up, moving their hands…all so that Russia could be presented as “a victim and a country that had to protect its people from Ukrainian torture” and the West and Ukraine as aggressors.

In pro-government Serbian portals, the Russian invasion is called, as Putin himself says, “Special military operation”. It is known that most of the Serbian media is financed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, but also by the Russian government.

The “Sputnik Serbia” portal claimed in several articles, in which it referred to anonymous sources, that Ukraine was trying to develop nuclear weapons before the Russian invasion. The same article was reported by other media in Serbia. On the “Sputnik Serbia” portal, the article has been removed.

Thus, the most common conclusion is that Ukraine is to blame for being attacked, that Putin warned it for a long time and that his aggression is therefore “legitimate, justified and logical”.

The headlines of Serbian portals after the Russian invasion: “Russian attack in response to NATO threats”, “The story of American mercenaries – The media have fooled us, the Russians are not aggressors”, “Powerful rockets have been activated – Putin is destroying Europe with a dagger”, “They claim that he is too healthy – CIA plans to liquidate Putin?”.

Part of the Serbian portals close to the authorities wrote about how – Ukraine attacked Russia.

“(VIDEO) SHOCK! UKRAINE ATTACKED RUSSIA, KIEV SHELLED A SETTLEMENT ON THE TERRITORY OF THE RF?! Moscow is investigating where the shots came from – EVERYONE IS AFRAID OF WHAT PUTIN’S INVESTIGATORS WILL FIND!”

Portal ALO also reported the same news.

“Americans are pushing the world into chaos,” writes Informer in the headline. The Serbian telegraph writes that the Brits are in, as they emphasize, an unprecedented panic because Putin will come to the Balkans.

“Putin is sending the army to unite Serbia and Srpska,” writes the Serbian Telegraph.

The pro-Russian portal in Serbia also wrote about the fact that biological or chemical weapons were used in Ukraine or that the country has doubts that it will be attacked with nuclear weapons.

“American soldiers enter Ukraine” and that “everything is in Biden’s hands”

In the context of the war, Serbia is often presented as a victim due to the pressures of the European Union, which it suffers due to the non-introduction of sanctions against Russia. While Russia is also presented as the liberator, and as stated by some Serbian portals, “civilians are looking for salvation in Russia” and that “at least 50,000 women, old people and children have fled from the east of Ukraine to Russia”.

Public opinion polls have shown that the majority of Serbian residents believe that the cause of the conflict in Ukraine is NATO’s constant desire to expand to the East. Over 80 percent of Serbian citizens oppose the introduction of sanctions against Russia, and 68 percent believe that NATO is to blame for the war in Ukraine. /The Geopost