US official: Serbia an entry point for Russian propaganda in W. Balkans

Serbia in an entry point for Russian propaganda in the Western Balkans, said Coordinator for the US Department of State’s Global Engagement Center James Rubin.

Rubin was speaking at an online media conference to present a report titled “How the People’s Republic of China seeks to reshape the global information environment.”

Asked by Radio Free Europe to comment on China’s influence in the Western Balkans, Rubin said that, during his visit to the region at the beginning of the year, he “noticed China’s increasing desire to play a role by taking ownership of media organizations,” but that currently “the biggest problem is that Serbia is a portal for Russia in the Western Balkans.”

Serbia is the only country in the region that has not shut down Russia Today and Sputnik. Somehow they think they can to that yet still get into the European Union (EU), which confuses me, said Rubin.

He noted that, following Russia’s invasion, all EU countries banned Russia Today and Sputnik, believing that they are its propaganda tools.

They have Russia Today and Sputnik in Serbia, which means that even people in the countries in the region understand them. This is currently the biggest information problem, Rubin said.

Soon after the begging of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the EU suspended the distribution of Russian state-owned media Russia Today and Sputnik as Kremlin’s disinformation and information manipulation assets.

US official: Serbia an entry point for Russian propaganda in W. Balkans