"Prishtina miscalculated - not even Molotov cocktails will scare the Serbs", "What do the elections bring to the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija: From Adem Jashari and Hashim Thaçi to Kurti and back"...
These are some of the dozens of headlines in the Kremlin-backed Russian state media, RT Balkans and Sputnik Serbia, which were published during the pre-election campaign in Kosovo, from January 11 to February 9.
The European Union Election Observation Mission emphasized in its report that these two media outlets have published around 60 articles about the elections in Kosovo since the beginning of January, and that some of them had a narrative of manipulation against the Serbian community.
The report did not single out any texts with "manipulative content", but Radio Free Europe analyzed some of them, KosovaPress reports.
The emphasis is mainly on the Serbian List as the "protector" of Serbian interests in Kosovo, while the Kosovo authorities and the current Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, are linked to the "persecution" of Serbs or "attacks" against them - although without any evidence to support such claims.
Ivana Stradner, a fellow at the Washington-based non-governmental Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says Russia has a long history of "information operations to interfere in elections, support a particular candidate, polarize society, or diminish the importance of democracy."
"In the Balkans, Russia needs chaos in order to use it in negotiations with the West, in which [Russian President Vladimir] Putin would position himself as a mediator and tell the West that if it doesn't want chaos to escalate, it should negotiate with it. So it would use it as a bargaining chip," Stradner says.
She adds that Moscow "does not need to send tanks and planes" to destabilize the region, but that "information operations and sabotage" are sufficient.
REL asked the Government of Kosovo for comments regarding the EU Election Observation Mission's assessments that RT Balkan and Sputnik Serbia have published dozens of texts with manipulative content against the Serbian community during the pre-election campaign, and asked what has been done to prevent the influence of these media outlets, but received no response.
How is manipulation done?
The article titled "Prishtina miscalculated - not even Molotov cocktails will scare the Serbs”, published on January 28 on the Sputnik Serbia website, alludes to the fact that the Kosovo authorities wanted to “scare” the Serbs in Kosovo with Molotov cocktails.
This narrative begins from the first sentence:
"We should not be surprised if incidents continue in Kosovo and Metohija, with which Prishtina "will try to intimidate Serbs and the Serbian List before the February elections, but let them remember that Serbs are a defiant people."
Although this is a quote attributed to Lluka Jovanović, a professor at the University of North Mitrovica, the author of the text highlights how “Prishtina tries to intimidate Serbs before the elections”, while in the following paragraph it can be read how unknown persons have, in fact, thrown a Molotov cocktail at the car of a Serbian List activist.
The text further states that an "attack against Serbs" has occurred and that "such an act must be seen in the context of the increasing violence exercised by the Pristina regime against the Serbian population."
There is no mention anywhere that the Kosovo Police have launched an investigation or that, the day before, unknown perpetrators burned the billboard of the Serbian People's Movement - also participating in the elections in Kosovo - which was located in front of the house of its candidate for MP.
In the RT Balkans article "What the elections bring to Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija: From Adem Jashari and Hashim Thaçi to Kurti and back", published on January 30, it is alluded to that the leader of Vetëvendosje, Albin Kurti, tried to "use" the Kosovo Security Forces at a pre-election rally in Skenderaj, while it is later concluded that "there are no changes in the position of the Albanian elites and in Pristina's policy towards Serbs" and that the goal has always been to "expell" Serbs from Kosovo.
It states that "methods have changed", that there are no longer "kidnappings, bombings, murders, camps, organ harvesting, as in the time of the KLA", but that now Serbs are being pushed into a "silent exodus" through "continuous pressure, arrests, false accusations of war crimes...".
No evidence is presented for these claims. Nor is there any mention of the fact that Serbian forces committed crimes against Albanian civilians during the 1998/99 war in Kosovo, and that several individuals have been tried for them before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Also, no evidence of "organ trafficking" has ever been found.
During the war in Kosovo, around 13.000 people were killed, while around 1.600 missing people, mainly from the Albanian community, are still being sought.
“Favouring the Serbian List”
There are also news stories in which Sputnik Serbia and RT Balkan have exclusively covered the Serbian List campaign, as well as broadcast statements by officials of this party, saying that only Serbian List brings unity to Serbs in Kosovo, that it fights for the survival of Serbs in similar and impossible conditions.
This narrative can also be seen in the headlines of these news items, some of which are: “Serbian Lista's closing rally in Zvečan: On Sunday, a referendum of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija”, “Serbian Lista in Kufcë e Eperme: A battle for the survival of Serbs is taking place in Kosovo and Metohija”, “Serbian Lista's rally in Mitrovica, Kosovo: On Sunday, the Serbian state and Serbian unity will win”, “Serbian Lista: We represent the interests of the Serbian people, that's why we worry about Kurti”.
In no text on RT Balkan or Sputnik Serbia regarding the elections in Kosovo, the reader could learn that, in addition to the Serbian List, five other political entities from the Serbian community participated in the race for deputies in the Kosovo Assembly: the Serbian Democracy Party, the Party for Freedom, Justice and Survival, the Serbian People's Movement, the Party of Kosovo Serbs and the Civic Initiative People's Justice.
Also, it is not mentioned anywhere that the deputies of the Serbian List have been exposed to criticism from the public and political opponents, because, in the last two years, they have boycotted the sessions of the Kosovo Assembly, appearing for signature every six months, just to preserve their mandates and salaries.
Due to the boycott policy of the Serbian List, following its withdrawal from Kosovo institutions in November 2022, Albanian mayors have taken power in the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo - which has led to protests by the Serbian community and frequent crises.
The situation culminated in September 2023, when an armed group of Serbs, led by the former deputy leader of the Serbian List, Milan Radoićić, attacked the Kosovo Police in the village of Banjska and killed a policeman.
Hibrid.info on the "conspiracy theories" of the Russian media
In its misinformation monitoring report for January, the Hibrid.info portal, which monitors disinformation about Kosovo in the media, writes that Sputnik has on several occasions during January dealt with conspiracy theories and that readers have been deceived into believing that the elections in Kosovo are being "rigged."
An example is the Sputnik news on January 21, in which the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, claims that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, "intends to falsify the elections in Kosovo to the detriment of the Serbian List, as well as to place puppets loyal to Pristina in parliamentary seats."
No evidence was presented for these claims.
"At the hands of the self-proclaimed authorities of Pristina, with the cooperation and encouragement of Washington and EU allies, a ruthless campaign continues to cleanse Kosovo and Metohija of Serbs, as well as to implement violent Albanization," said Zakharova, whose statement, in addition to Sputnik, was also broadcast by RT Balkan.
Hibrid.info has also highlighted a text in Sputnik, in which the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, claims that Kurti aims to create an ethnically pure Kosovo and form a "Greater Albania".
No evidence was presented for this claim either.
What is the reach of these media?
RT and Sputnik are under sanctions in Kosovo, in line with the European Union's sanctions policy, which was undertaken after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Therefore, the television channels of these media are not available on cable operators, including those in Serb-majority areas in Kosovo, which are mainly covered by the company MTS doo - a subsidiary of the Serbian company "Telekom". This company emerged from the Brussels Agreement between Kosovo and Serbia and is registered under the laws of Kosovo.
Otherwise, Serbia has not imposed sanctions on Russia and, consequently, on Russian media outlets supported by the Kremlin.
The online platforms RT Balkan and Sputnik Serbia were not accessible in Kosovo on February 13 and 14 through internet companies operating in Kosovo - Vala, Ipko and MTS.
However, on February 18, the Sputnik Serbia website was accessible through the internet of all these operators, while RT Balkan remained blocked.
REL contacted Vala, Ipko, and MTS to ask how it is possible to access the Sputnik website if it is under sanctions by the Kosovo Government, but did not receive a response.
Earlier, MTS said that the company adheres to the blocking list sent to it by the Regulatory Authority for Electronic and Postal Communications of Kosovo (ARKEP).
"Although we have strictly adhered to the list provided by RAEKP, we accept the possibility of new portals emerging that are not part of the initial directive," MTS said.
The Regulatory Authority for Electronic and Postal Communications tells Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that all internet providers and mobile operators are required to block Russian media websites, in accordance with the sanctions imposed on them, but that due to the dynamic nature of the internet, the availability of these websites may change.
"This depends on the measures implemented by local authorities, as well as the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) or proxy servers, which can bypass these restrictions. The lack of Internet/country code domains (ccTLDs) also creates additional challenges in this process," says ARKEP.
The European Union Election Observation Mission emphasizes in its report that the reach of RT Balkan and Sputnik is also limited on social media, due to the fact that they are present only on the X platform, where their posts rarely reach more than 2.000 users.
However, these two media are also available on Telegram channels, where their content can be partially read, without directly accessing their official pages.
Ivana Stradner, a fellow at the non-governmental Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, says she often hears statements that RT and Sputnik have no influence in the Balkans because they are not read and do not have enough "likes" and interactions on social networks.
But, according to her, this thesis "falls flat" because their texts are broadcast by local media, bloggers, and influencers through their social networks.
"RT and Sputnik are weapons of Moscow, through which it controls or imposes narratives. Russian military strategists openly say that whoever has information superiority will win the war. And the West is already in an information war with Moscow, but also with Iran and China," says Stradner.
Reporters Without Borders, in last year's report titled "From Russia to Serbia: How RT Spreads Kremlin Propaganda in the Balkans, Despite EU Sanctions," highlighted that RT Balkans content is cited in media outlets in Serbia, including the public broadcaster - Radio Television of Serbia.
“RT is cited as a reliable source of news about Russia and, as a result, RT Balkans functions as a state news agency, similar to Russia’s TASS,” the report said.
Russia does not recognize Kosovo's independence, but has had its liaison office in Pristina since 2005. However, the activities of this office are not known to the public.
Do Kosovo Serbs trust Russian media?
Citizens of North Mitrovica, surveyed by REL, say that they used to follow RT Balkan and Sputnik online, but that they are no longer available.
Nenad says that he has never fully trusted Kremlin-backed media, but that he also does not trust certain media outlets supported by Western countries.
"Especially in these moments, considering the global picture. Both sides are doing propaganda," he says.
Aleksandr says that whenever he could, he followed Sputnik in Serbia. According to him, it is undemocratic to deny access to it.
"I think Sputnik is democratic because it broadcasts all sides. Then, it's up to people to believe them or not," he says.
Stefani says that while they were not banned, he occasionally opened Sputnik and RT Balkan, but that he did not follow them regularly.
"I always look at everything with a bit of suspicion, but it also depends on the news... I would do my research in other media and maybe then come to a conclusion," he says.
Reporters Without Borders on the founding and influence of RT Balkans
In its 2024 report, Reporters Without Borders assessed that the announcement on the X network by RT's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, implied the media outlet's motive for expanding into Serbia.
"We have launched RT in the Balkans. Because Kosovo is Serbia," he said in the announcement after the opening of RT Balkans, on November 15, 2022.
Reporters Without Borders also said that in September 2024 they sent a questionnaire to this medium regarding the mission in the Balkans, but, as they said, they received a sarcastic response: "We founded RT Balkans with one purpose - to annoy Reporters Without Borders."
"The provocative, political response shows how RT positions itself as the antithesis of an organization that defends independent media. RT is also unwilling to reveal information about its mission or its relationship with the government, which independent media outlets - as this Russian outlet claims to be - should be able to provide," Reporters Without Borders said in their report.
How to stop Russian influence through the media?
Stradner emphasizes that Russia "knows the sensitive spots in the region very well" and that it "gladly uses the role of religion and ethnic tensions in its operations."
"Through increasing tensions, the goal is to create chaos in the region, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in Kosovo," she says.
Stradner adds that Russia's influence will not decline, although "many in the West like to fantasize about it."
"Recently, RT also opened a TV station. The information operations on Telegram, which I follow, are only growing, while Moscow has adapted its strategy, focusing more on influencing bloggers and influencers on social networks in the Balkans, so that they spread its narratives," says Stradner.
To prevent disinformation from Russia, the West should send teams against hybrid warfare, she says, adding that Moscow does not follow the rules that exist in the information space, "because it is not a democracy."
In this context, she emphasizes that Western countries should invest more in youth education and free media, as well as punish leaders and entities in the region that control media freedom and spread disinformation.
