Russia continues to fight Kosovo through narratives that portray Kosovo as a dysfunctional state while seeking to give Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić a hand in the battle with student protests.
This was stated during the “Balkan Disinfo 2025” conference in the panel where disinformation in the Balkans and Russian influence was discussed.
Contesting Kosovo’s statehood is one of the main narratives of Russian disinformation, where Russia aims to undermine the legitimacy of Kosovo’s statehood. Some of these narratives present Kosovo as a “mafia state” operating under the protection of KFOR.
“Portraying Kosovo as a destabilizing factor in the Balkans to raise the idea that Kosovo is a kind of cancer of the Balkans and is the main problem in the Western Balkans, and some narratives that it is an illegitimate state,” declared Festim Rizanaj.
Russia also aims to influence the Western Balkans through certain narratives, which mainly include anti-Western messages, such as anti-US, anti-NATO and anti-EU.
Moscow uses a deliberate and unexplained analogy between its aggression in Ukraine and the war in Kosovo, drawing parallels to justify its actions.
The Russian disinformation narrative focuses on the victimization of the Serbian minority in Kosovo, spreading unfounded claims that it faces serious threats to its security and property.
“They make such comparisons that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is called a Nazi like Zelensky in Ukraine, as well as such presentations that are related to the persecution of Serbs in Kosovo just as Russians were persecuted in the Donbas area,” adds Rizanaj.
Russia seeks to support Vučić in coping with the growing pressure coming from the massive student protests across Serbia after the incident in Novi Sad.
The message being spread, also through Russian media operating in Serbia, is that Vučić is a guarantor of stability and peace while the protesters are calling for war and misery.
"The European Union and the US are not reacting to authoritarianism in Serbia while simultaneously reacting against Russia's malign influence in Georgia and Moldova, and the Vučić regime's violence against protesters in Serbia and the repetition of the narrative of the war against 'color revolutions' has exposed President Vučić as a pro-Russian leader," said journalist Boris Varga.
Other topics addressed at this conference included transatlantic disinformation, disinformation in the EU and the Baltic states, and the role of artificial intelligence in disinformation. (A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
MUND TE LEXONI GJITHASHTU
