DISINFO: The West is trying to provoke conflict in Kosovo and the Balkans against Russia's interest
SUMMARY
There are forces in the West who want to provoke the Serbs into a conflict in the Balkans, as Russia is preoccupied with Ukraine. They want to force Serbia to join the sanctions against Russia and to recognise Kosovo. This is an attempt to take advantage of the window of opportunity that has opened up.
RESPONSE
This is part of a pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign to blame the West for the escalation of tensions in Kosovo in December 2022 when it is Russia who is actually inflaming the situation.
The disinformation is not backed up with evidence, baselessly blaming the West for a complicated situation that has been long brewing despite EU and US efforts to defuse tensions. In fact, both Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vuciv and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti requested some action from NATO to play some role to address the crisis.
On the other hand, Russian officials, media and Telegram channels have been trying for a long time to inflame tensions around Kosovo and the Western Balkans. On 15 November 2022, Russia launched its new online channel RT Balkan in the Serbian language, which RT head Margarita Simonyan presented with the words: “Because Serbia is Kosovo”. According to a recent report by the European Council on Foreign Relations, "[the Russian media's] aim is mainly to attack the legitimacy of Kosovo’s statehood, but also to fuel ethnic tensions by portraying the Serb community in Kosovo as victims of an abusive central government.”
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the escalation of tensions in Kosovo is caused by NATO, that the West is using Kosovo to break Serbia’s ties to Russia and China, that the West is organising everything in Kosovo and is unable to force Kosovars to obey existing agreements, or that the US is trying to provoke Serbia into a military operation.