The “Balkan Disinfo 2025” conference discussed disinformation in the Balkans and Russian propaganda. In Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was said that the Russian narrative is heavily present.
The researcher at the fact-checking platform “Hibrid.info”, Festim Rizanaj, has presented a report stating that Russia uses Kosovo as a pretext for its interactions.
Rizanaj said that Russia is an obstacle to the recognition of Kosovo on the international arena.
“At the same time, through the veto that [Russia] has in the UN, prevents Kosovo from being recognized internationally, and it is an obstacle. At the same time, it also uses Serbian nationalism to influence the Western Balkans. Russia uses as a precedent or pretext mainly the NATO intervention in 1999, it uses it as a pretext for Russia’s interventions in Georgia, Moldova and most recently in Ukraine…’Russia Today’, on November 15, 2022, began its broadcasting after the aggression in Ukraine, with the slogan that ‘Kosovo “is” S.’, with this slogan they started broadcasting in the Serbian language… ”, said Rizanaj.
Journalist from North Macedonia, Xhelal Neziri said that Russian propaganda continues to have an impact, for which he also mentioned cases.
“We have all kinds of polarizations that are exploited or used by Russia to increase or extend its influence in Macedonia. In 2017 a group of protesters attempted a coup in North Macedonia, and the same scenario happened in Montenegro in 2016, and the reason was that in 2017 we had a transitional government with rotation in Macedonia. And the new government that was expected to bring a solution to the crises, that would unblock the NATO integration process, to prevent this kind of integration, just like in Montenegro, Russian-backed forces, protesters attacked the parliament and entered the parliament to block the process,” he said.
Darko Brkan from Bosnia and Herzegovina too emphasized that the Russian narrative is present to a large extent in this country.
“If we talk about Russian narratives and propaganda that is pro-Russian, is it present, yes it is, I would say to a large extent and why? This is because of the Republika Srpska, by nature it is pro-Russian. And this is a fact, and why invest in something that is financed locally, and there is no need for investment at all to have Russian influence, but how is it paid for? It is paid for through Vladimir Putin, depending on how problematic the situation is”, he concluded. The “Balkan Disinfo 2025” conference is being held in Pristina and experts in this field from different countries of the world are participating in the event.
