Russian and Greater Serbian nationalism in the Western Balkans find common ground whenever favorable international circumstances are created: when the West ignores the historically established potential of actors in the region to generate new divisions and conflicts, and when Russia sees the Western Balkans’ geopolitical position as a breeding ground for global confrontations between Russia and Western powers, states the publication named Word as a Weapon: Russian Digital Traces in the Western Balkans, whose authors are Andjelka Rogac and prof. Srdjan Darmanovic, PhD.
Russia is aware that it does not have the resources for military supremacy in the region, nor is its economic model attractive to the countries of the Western Balkans. Therefore, it turns to hybrid tactics. Also, Russia is becoming present in the key energy infrastructure, encouraging cultural ties and religious ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church. At the same time, it encourages historically rooted ethnic divisions. It pays special attention to the Russian and domestic media ready to distribute Russian propaganda content and social networks on which the narratives that the USA, NATO and the EU are hegemons and immoral imperialist powers are persistently placed.
