Russian media, and therefore Russian politics, have a huge long-term influence on the media scene in Serbia and the region, and as a result, ideas, images and opinions are created in the Western Balkans that have little to do with the real world, assessed the media expert and former head of correspondence of the German agency DPA for Southeast Europe, Thomas Braj.
The image conveyed by the Russian state media that the West, that is, the EU and the USA, want to harm Serbia and influence it against its interests, is not true, Braj told the Beta agency on the occasion of the publication publication "Russian media in the Balkans", which analyzes how Moscow's propaganda affects Serbia.
According to him, many media in Serbia and neighboring countries, due to the difficult economic situation, are happy to use the free services offered by Sputnik and other Russian state media, such as RT (formerly Russia Today), and since they are in the Serbian language, many announcements are accepted as facts. , "one on one".
"Domestic politicians look positively on the Sputnik articles because they represent a socio-political value system with which they too sympathize. The state, led by a powerful top politician, plays a dominant role in this. The 'Putin system' apparently serves as a role model for many politicians in the region, such as Viktor Orban, Nikola Gruevski, Bakir Izetbegović, Janez Janša and Aleksandar Vučić," added Braj.
In a response published on the website of the Sputnik agency in Serbian, it was assessed that the study by Tomas Braj commissioned by the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation "had the ambitious task of proving and exposing the Russian propaganda machine in Serbia and the Balkans", but that it is there, as it is evaluated, the "tragi-comic puzzle about Russian malignant influence" is impossible to put together, due to the author's "contradictory, one-sided, incomplete" statements.
According to Sputnik, the author Thomas Bray did not bother to convey the basic facts, and at the same time, while he is "examining who are the backbones of Sputnik's DNA, the government in Berlin is seriously protecting its energy interests by fighting for the construction of the Nord Stream, and is even seeking China's support in the UN , so that this vitally important project for Germany would come true.
Braj, however, reminds in the study that in the opinion of the majority of Serbian citizens, Russia (along with China) is Serbia's closest friend and most important economic partner, although official statistics show that the most money comes to Serbia from the EU and the USA, and that Germany is the largest investor in Serbia , and as he adds, the belief that the West will "collapse soon", while the Russian or Chinese value system will gain international advantage, has nothing to do with reality.
"The headlines on the front pages of many newspapers that Brussels and Washington wanted to overthrow President Vučić have absolutely nothing to do with reality. Why would the West want to remove Vučić, even though the EU and the USA see him as the most important partner in all the reforms that are being sought? from a geopolitical point of view, it should be advocated that people in the Western Balkans get a real picture of the balance of power and the political goals of all foreign partners," Braj assessed.
Braj points out in the publication that at first glance the confrontation with the Russian-Serbian media partnership is not that significant, because the Balkans are often reduced to the "backyard of Europe", however, if Southeastern Europe is viewed from the perspective of political power and security policy, the topic his assessment takes on enormous importance.
"For a long time, Brussels and Washington have been trying to establish Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo in Euro-Atlantic structures and thus suppress Russia's influence in the region. The Russian state agency Sputnik in its Serbian newsroom is doing everything possible to prevent that the mentioned countries are integrated into the Euro-Atlantic structures," Braj pointed out.
As he emphasized, Moscow is doing everything to strengthen its role as an arbiter in favor of Belgrade by fueling regional national conflicts, and therefore it is no coincidence that the Serbs in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina are considered the closest Russian allies in Southeastern Europe in the geopolitical struggle with the USA and Europe.
Russia spends a lot of effort and money to prove its supposed fraternal friendship with the Serbs over and over again, starting with funding vaccines, or monuments in Belgrade and decorating important buildings like the Church of Saint Sava in Vračar, and viewed from that emotional, national-psychological and starting point of political power , the media power of Russia in large parts of the Balkans contributes to the fact that the EU and the USA often act from a losing position, the author states.
Illustrating the influence of Russia and the Russian media on public opinion in Serbia, Braj also states in the study that Serbia has a large number of explicitly Russophile portals, including Fakti, Standard, Nova srpska politika misao, Srbija danas, Gazeta, Vostok, Nacionalist, Istina, In4s , Vidovdan, but that by far the most dominant influence is the Russian agency Sputnik, which was founded in 2014, and a year after that, the Serbian branch started working.
Along with graphs and statistical data, Braj says in the publication that it is striking that the three clear focuses of Sputnik's articles are Serbia, Russia and the USA, while other international topics are excluded, and that the direction of the editorial work in Serbia already proves that the user cannot be clearly informed. on the most important international issues.
"In principle, in the Serbian publication it is evident that this small country is assigned a role equal to the world powers USA and Russia, which does not correspond to reality. Moreover, reporting on Serbian issues even clearly surpasses topics from the USA and is on a par with Russian," Braj points out. stating that in Sputnik's reports, in addition to health topics in the age of the corona crisis, there are also articles that encourage a negative attitude towards the USA and the EU, or NATO.
As an illustration of the negative image that Sputnik creates about the USA or the EU, Braj cites the headlines: "Biden deleted women", "When the civil war begins in America", "Chomsky: America is the leading terrorist", "Contaminated food flooded Europe", "A clear signal : NATO ready for confrontation with Russia", "How a nuclear war almost started due to NATO military exercises", and numerous others.
In contrast to the negatively colored articles about the EU, the USA and NATO, Sputnik reports on Russian topics in a positive light, especially about the new Russian armament systems, which, as Braj points out, should prove Russia's technical superiority, and those articles are gladly broadcast by the Serbian media, including Tanjug, Radio Television of Vojvodina, B92, TV Happy, tabloids Telegraf, Alo, Informer...
"It is striking that other Russian topics (apart from mixed ones) are practically left out of Sputnik's coverage. Apart from a few justifications for action against opposition leader Alexei Navalny, internal Russian issues are almost completely ignored. Internal problems or conflicts typical of any country, in Russia they practically don't exist," states the author of the publication.
The power and influence that Sputnik already has on the Serbian news scene is often reflected in purely internal political topics, on which the Serbian media do not have their own reports, but take over the news of the Russian agency, Braj pointed out and cited as an example the statement of the American ambassador to Serbia, Anthony Godfrey, that he is a prominent inventor and the engineer Nikola Tesla, an American, not a Serb, which was rated as "shocking" in that broadcast.
"The fact that Sputnik reported extensively on such an event in front of the noses of the major media can be considered as evidence of the poor work of domestic dailies, portals and television stations," notes Braj and cites Sputnik's coverage of the Serbian-Russian military exercise in May 2021 as an example. to which domestic media did not have their own reports but also relied on the Russian agency.
The analysis of the Sputnik texts also shows that they are used to motivate Serbia to take a tougher stance towards Pristina, i.e. Kosovo as the second most important thematic complex of Sputnik, which would intensify the smoldering (frozen) conflict (turning it into a hot phase), the publication stated.
"Often, Sputnik even provides supporting arguments to the Serbian side in order to justify and thus improve its position. The line of reporting on this content includes a confrontation with NATO, under whose leadership the international peacekeeping force (Kfor) is stationed in Kosovo," states the author and adds that Sputnik proves to the Serbian public that Russia unconditionally represents the interests of Belgrade in this matter, against the "efforts of the West" to take away Serbia's former province.
In addition to military topics and Kosovo, Orthodox customs dominate as a way of strengthening the partnership with Russia, but also among Serbs, especially in BiH and Republika Srpska, and in Montenegro, while Sputnik reports on the situation in those countries in a typically negative context, states the author and cites the headlines: "Scandal in Podgorica: Pregnant women were given the wrong medicine", "School in Montenegro closed due to scabies", "Croats' pockets are getting shallower, they are selling the last pieces of gold jewelry to pay the bills"...
According to the author's analysis, Sputnik's matrix is clear: in the reporting, there is no demarcation between news and commentary, the sources are handled superficially, carelessly or with a specific goal, the reporting is selective, and the goal is the superiority of the political, economic and social system of Russia, influence on the countries of the former of Yugoslavia, preventing their approach to NATO, and sowing discord.
The core of this work is the analysis of the content of large parts of the material of the Serbian edition of the foreign editorial office of the Russian Sputnik in January, February and March 2021, and in addition, the media environment of Russophile media operators in Serbia was examined and suggestions were made how the EU could respond to the media offensive of Moscow, it was stated in the publication published by the German foundation "Friedrich Nauman".
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