​Russian propaganda heavily present in Western Balkans

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, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

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.

“If we take Russian narratives in the Western Balkans, they mainly focus on the Serbian language because Serbian is the most spoken language in the Western Balkans, so the Russians have decided that their media services such as ‘Sputnik’ and ‘Russia Today’ will broadcast information in Serbian. At the same time, the main point where Russian influence dominates is Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina because of the Republika Srpska. Their approach is to distort narratives, and spread the influence of Russian sentiment and propaganda against the West, NATO, etc. They also use the technique of making various comparisons between Kosovo and the Russian aggression against the neighboring countries ”, he said.

Rizanaj said that Russia is an obstacle to the recognition of Kosovo on the international arena.