Darko Brkan, the founder of the Raskrinkavanje portal, claims that the Kremlin-controlled media are actively supporting the spread of disinformation in the Balkans.
In an interview with The Geopost, Brkan claims that Sputnik and RT are assisting local Balkan media in propagating Russian misinformation.
“People forget that local actors spread the majority of misinformation. Foreign players such as Sputnik and RT are utilized to provide information to local actors,” says Brkan.
“Foreign actors such as Sputnik, RT, and others are only employed to provide information to local actors. We must recognize that, in many cases, individuals are misled into believing that there is no foreign influence because they exclusively read local media. Local media often serves the purpose of foreign influence. Even people who oppose it come to declare, “you know what, there is no Russian ‘footprint’ here since the effect of Sputnik and other media is extremely tiny,” which is not true,” he said.
Mr. Brkan claimed that the Balkan region is influenced by an established disinformation network that helps Russia’s geopolitical goals in the area.
“A well-established disinformation structure already rules the region. “I’d say for decades, and it’s nothing new; even our data from the last five years that Raskrankavanje has been in existence shows that it’s even possible to create a defined structure of media networks, agencies that serve exclusively for promotion and propaganda through computer algorithms, which primarily serves some geopolitical interests that Russia has in this field,” he said.
Brkan claims it is pretty easy to detect how local actors feed Russian disinformation.
“There are a great number of local players who magnify disinformation, and so in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is quite obvious to detect the influence of misinformation about Kosovo, Montenegro, and the localization of topics about Kosovo is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro,” Brkan explained.
He also discussed Raskrinkavanje’s work and the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on the propagation of Kremlin narratives in the region.
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