Kosovo was at the center of disinformation spread by high-ranking Serbian and Russian officials during the past week.
These disinformation campaigns aim to create a false perception of the actions of the Kosovo Government and to present an inaccurate narrative of “ethnic cleansing” and “persecution” of Serbs in the northern part of the country. Through a deliberate campaign, Petar Petković, Aleksandar Vulin, Sergei Lavrov, and others have made unfounded accusations against the Kosovo Government, manipulating public opinion for political purposes.
Petar Petković, the director of the so-called Office for Kosovo in Serbia, falsely claimed that “Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is deliberately conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign to expel Serbs from northern Kosovo.” At the same time, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin spread disinformation about alleged “ethnic cleansing” during a meeting with the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, in Moscow.
Meanwhile, official Belgrade and the Serbian List party spread disinformation about the Kosovo Police, alleging that they had brutally beaten several young Serbs in northern Mitrovica. Initially, Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević reacted, followed by the Serbian List, and finally Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The truth is that four young Serbs were arrested by the Kosovo Police on September 10 for attacking two police officers in the square in northern Mitrovica, one of whom was injured.
The footage released by some Serbian politicians shows no violence against them other than their arrest.
Another disinformation claim was that Serb property in Kosovo was “illegally” expropriated for the construction of bases for Kosovo Police special units. This claim came from Arno Guyon, Director of the Office for Public Diplomacy and Culture in Serbia. The portrayal of Kosovo authorities as aggressive came despite the fact that the Kosovo Government has clarified that the land expropriation is being carried out in accordance with the law and that every landowner has been notified and compensated as stipulated by law.
Furthermore, Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabić spread disinformation about Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, falsely claiming that he desires war with Serbia. She also continued the disinformation spread by Serbian officials that Kosovo is undergoing “ethnic cleansing” against Serbs. While disinforming about Kurti, Brnabić claims that Vučić is “maintaining peace,” when in fact the opposite is true. Vučić continues to follow the nationalist narrative of the 1990s towards his neighbors and is a source of destabilization in the Western Balkans region.
Claims of “ethnic cleansing” and “persecution of Serbs” in Kosovo were also made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the spokesperson for this ministry, Maria Zakharova, who made unfounded parallels with the situation in Donbas. Lavrov said that the persecution of Serbs could be compared to the “Nazi persecution of Russians in Donbas,” while Zakharova accused Western countries of giving Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti a “free hand” for the alleged “ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo.”
