Without an imprint and not registered in Serbia, the portal Eagle Eye Explore, which is attempting to build international influence, publishes pro-Russian narratives and interviews with the European far right. According to an investigation by BIRN journalists, the portal’s digital traces follow patterns typical of media operations linked to the Kremlin.
“Why Does Serbia Need a Law on Foreign Agents?”
This was the headline of the first article published on the Eagle Eye Explore portal in mid-2024.
In just over a year and a half of operation, hundreds of articles have been published on the site spreading disinformation, anti-liberal and pro-Russian narratives, and promoting the far right—most often the party AfD (Alternative for Germany), which in Germany is often described as a party that “the Kremlin keeps on a leash.”
Although Serbia’s Law on Public Information requires that information about a media outlet’s publisher and editors be published in the imprint, such information is missing from this portal.
The absence of information about the publisher, ownership, and editors is one of the typical characteristics of media outlets used by Moscow across Europe.
Ruslan Trad, a fellow at DFRLab (Digital Forensic Research Lab) of the U.S.-based organization Atlantic Council, which studies disinformation, says that the portal has all the characteristics of Kremlin propaganda channels: hidden ownership, the possibility of payments in cryptocurrencies, cooperation with journalists from Russian media and AfD, and the distribution of articles through Telegram channels and other portals connected to Moscow.
“The pattern you identified represents a characteristic signature of Kremlin-supported media ecosystems, which has been extensively documented,” Trad said.
Russian Influence in the Balkans
The European Commission warned about Moscow’s influence on media in the Balkans as early as 2023.
At the time, officials in Brussels assessed that Kremlin narratives in Serbia were particularly effective compared to other countries in the region, and that their spread involved not only foreign actors but also certain local media outlets and some “mainstream” political forces.
In the study “Russia Paving the Way for Autocracies,” published in 2025 by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, researchers concluded that Serbia serves as a central hub for spreading Russian influence throughout the region via branches of state media such as Sputnik and RT Balkan.
The ultimate goal of these operations is to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, create social divisions, and slow down the region’s Euro-Atlantic integration.
Eagle Eye Explore and Legal Requirements
The portal Eagle Eye Explore has no imprint and is not listed in Serbia’s media register, meaning it is unknown who the publisher or owner is, or where the funds for its operations originate.
The website offers the possibility of donations in cryptocurrencies, but there are no recorded donations available.
Nataša Jovanović, a long-time journalist for Pečat, Večernje novosti, Sputnik, and Russia Today, has on several occasions spoken to the Bulgarian outlet Efir.info as the editor-in-chief of Eagle Eye Explore.
Jovanović declined to answer questions about the portal during a phone conversation with BIRN journalists.
In an email response asking who the publisher and editor are, how the portal is financed, and whether it cooperates with Russian media organizations, she wrote that the questions were “so uniform that they require no additional explanation.”
“I expected journalistic questions, but instead received ones that could only be asked by security agencies or prosecutors,” Jovanović wrote.
However, Serbian media law obliges media outlets to publish an imprint containing information about the publisher, the editor-in-chief, and other editors.
Ana Martinoli, a media theorist, producer, and professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, explained to BIRN that the imprint is a key instrument of transparency and accountability.
It allows the public to assess the credibility of a media outlet and identify potential political or economic interests behind its content.
“It also directs legal and professional responsibility to specific actors. It is not merely a formality; it identifies who makes editorial decisions and who the publisher is,” she said.
Penalties for media outlets operating without an imprint range from 100,000 to 1,000,000 Serbian dinars.
What Is Known About the Portal?
The Eagle Eye Explore domain was registered on May 28, 2024, with the Canadian registrar Tucows, through the Serbian company Adriahost, which provides domain registration and web hosting services.
The site itself is hosted on servers of the Dutch company LeaseWeb.
Tucows offers an additional service that protects the identity of the domain registrant through its subsidiary Contact Privacy, replacing real owner data with generic information to conceal the registrant’s identity. This practice is legal and often used when domain owners want to remain anonymous.
The company told BIRN that the identity of the domain registrant can only be disclosed on the basis of an official order from competent authorities in Canada, Denmark, Germany, or the United States.
According to Ruslan Trad, this setup represents a deliberately constructed anonymization architecture designed to prevent attribution of responsibility, avoid compliance with sanctions, and allow plausible deniability while maintaining operational continuity.
Collaboration and Contributors
Around 40 authors have written for Eagle Eye Explore.
Among the most active are:
- Vesna Veizović
- Dževad Galijašević
- Branko Žujović
- Zoran Čvorović
Articles are published in Serbian and English.
The site is built on the WordPress platform, and some accounts with administrative privileges were created under the names of two German AfD politicians.
However, both Artur Abramovich and Anton Friesen told BIRN that they had never had editorial or administrative access to the site.
Each of them had one article published on the portal.
AfD and Political Context
AfD is the second-largest party in Germany and the country’s largest opposition party.
In May last year, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency classified the party as a “confirmed right-wing extremist organization.” However, a court in Cologne recently issued an interim ruling stating that the term cannot be used until the conclusion of the legal proceedings initiated by AfD.
Political opponents regularly accuse AfD of working in the interests of the Kremlin and describe it as a “sleeper cell loyal to Russia,” accusations the party denies.
Distribution of Content
Eagle Eye Explore promotes its content on social networks where it has around 18,000 followers.
In addition to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X, the portal also runs a Telegram channel with about 1,634 members.
Links from the channel are frequently shared by channels such as Srpski ugao, Milan&Zurka | Guide, Bunt je stanje duha, as well as well-known pro-Russian channels including Vaseljenska, Balkanar, Serbski Vestnik, Vostok Vesti, Dejan Berić, DD Geopolitics, and Balkanskaya spletnița.
Among the amplifiers is also Rybar, one of the most influential Russian military Telegram channels.
Content from the portal is also republished by several media outlets, including pro-government tabloids Informer and Alo, as well as Novi Standard, Vaseljenska, Novi Vesnik, Odbrana i bezbednost, Pokret za odbranu Kosova i Metohije, and Poredak.
The content is also distributed across the region. In Republika Srpska, articles appear on the public broadcaster RTRS and in the online edition of the newspaper Glas Srpske. In Montenegro, they are published by the portal IN4S.
Part of Hybrid Warfare
Ruslan Trad says that Eagle Eye Explore exhibits numerous characteristics commonly seen in Kremlin-linked propaganda operations.
According to him, such propaganda sites typically function by publishing content through locally launched media outlets that then distribute it across multiple media platforms and social networks in several languages, creating the illusion of independent local journalism while actually promoting centrally coordinated messages.
The participation of journalists who also write for Russian state media such as RT and Sputnik is another well-known pattern.
“Their dual roles allow direct editorial direction and coordination of narratives from Russian state media toward local platforms while maintaining plausible deniability of formal connections,” Trad explained.
Sharing content through Telegram channels such as DD Geopolitics and Rybar also suggests that the portal is part of a broader infrastructure of Russian influence.
The goal, he says, is to undermine Western cohesion and integration into NATO and the EU, promote Euroscepticism, destabilize pro-Western governments, and create political bases favorable to Russia.
Methodology
To gather and verify technical data about the domain, servers, and website structure, BIRN journalists used the tools DNSlytics, urlscan.io, and DomainTools WHOIS.
To identify the administrator of the portal’s Facebook page through a publicly visible phone number, they used osint.industries, whatsapp.checkleaked.cc, and the Facebook Ads Library.
Information about the media school and its participants was obtained by analyzing publicly available photographs, using the PimEyes facial search tool, and reviewing Telegram channels and other open digital traces.
Telegram channels were analyzed using TGCollector and TGStat, while cryptocurrency wallets listed on the Eagle Eye Explore website were examined using blockchain.com.
The structure of the site’s WordPress CMS and backend access indicators were identified through analysis of publicly available WordPress metadata using the WPInt script, which enables mapping of user records and technical platform elements.
