How will EU sanctions on the Russia Today channel affect Serbia?

The Government of Serbia and the competent Ministry of Information in Serbia did not respond to Radio Free Europe's (RSE) question about this, nor did they publicly advertise on this topic.

RT's operations in Serbia have been in the focus of public interest on several occasions since the broadcasting of Russia Today in the EU has been sanctioned since March 2022.

Despite invitations from the EU, Serbia allowed the operation of this media under the control of the Kremlin, which is financed from the state budget of Russia, and previously the television channel RT tried to reach TV viewers in Germany through Serbia.

Serbia's relationship with RT stems from Serbia's foreign policy, which did not impose sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine despite being a candidate for EU membership. Serbia maintains friendly ties with Russia, whose support it counts on in the negotiations on Kosovo, whose independence it does not recognize.

 

What is stated in the EU decision?

The Council of the EU banned the broadcasting of five media outlets, including RT Balkan, with the aim of preventing Russia's media campaign "in order to strengthen its strategy of destabilizing neighboring countries - the EU and its member states", according to the announcement of the Council of the EU dated June 23.

"These media are under the constant direct or indirect control of the leadership of the Russian Federation and the leadership of Russia uses them for their ... propaganda actions aimed at civil society in the EU and neighboring countries, seriously distorting and manipulating the facts," the statement said.

The statement also points out that this type of propaganda was previously aimed, among other things, at European political parties, especially during election periods, civil society, Russian ethnic minorities, gender minorities and the functioning of democratic institutions in the EU.

It is also stated that EU measures will not prevent these media and their staff from carrying out other activities in the EU such as research and interviews.

 

What do these sanctions mean?

Earlier sanctions against the Russian state media "Russia Today" and "Sputnik" in the European Union include all means of transmission and distribution - cable and satellite television, television over the Internet (IPTV), their websites, applications and accounts on social networks.

The accounts of these media on social networks - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube are blocked in the EU.

Despite these sanctions, "RT Balkan" began broadcasting online content in the Serbian language in November 2022, eight months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At the time, unofficial plans were published in the media that RT would expand to television by 2024.

As RSE previously wrote, three months after the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, in May 2022, the company Balkans Media doo with headquarters in Belgrade was registered in the Agency for Business Registers of Serbia. The owner is the TV Novosti organization from Russia.

Rade Veljanovski, a professor at the Department of Journalism at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, says that this sanction is a great warning to Serbia and its regulatory system. He believes that this is an unequivocal remark to Serbia that Europe will not tolerate such things.

"It is difficult to sanction that type of media that is distributed in that way (web portal). It is a warning to the countries that allow it (the media) to send information and to distribute it, that they should accept that sanction and prevent further distribution of that information." , says Veljanovski.

Until the end of the work on this article, RSE did not receive a comment from "RT Balkan" regarding the announced sanctions.

Serbia has previously received criticism from the EU due to the expansion of the RT channel in Serbia.

The reporter of the European Parliament for Serbia, Vladimir Bilčik, on the occasion of the opening of the RT newsroom in Serbia in November, wrote on Twitter that the launch of Russia Today in Serbia is contrary to European foreign policy.

"To see how Russian propaganda is returning to Serbia through the opening of Russia Today, which contradicts Serbia's obligation to work on harmonization with European foreign policy," he said at the time.

"It is difficult to sanction that type of media that is distributed in that way (web portal). It is a warning to the countries that allow it (the media) to send information and to distribute it, that they should accept that sanction and prevent further distribution of that information." , says Veljanovski.

Until the end of the work on this article, RSE did not receive a comment from "RT Balkan" regarding the announced sanctions.

Serbia has previously received criticism from the EU due to the expansion of the RT channel in Serbia.

The reporter of the European Parliament for Serbia, Vladimir Bilčik, on the occasion of the opening of the RT newsroom in Serbia in November, wrote on Twitter that the launch of Russia Today in Serbia is contrary to European foreign policy.

"To see how Russian propaganda is returning to Serbia through the opening of Russia Today, which contradicts Serbia's obligation to work on harmonization with European foreign policy," he said at the time.

 

Serbia as a "springboard" for RT

Marko Milosavljević, professor of journalism at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, believes that the very opening of RT in Serbia at the time of the invasion was a provocation towards EU countries.

"It was a demonstration to the European Union and the USA that, despite some official pro-Western positions, Serbian politics is playing an unsubtly double game," he says.

Rade Veljanovski, from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, also believes that the interest of RT is not in Serbia, but that Serbia is a "springboard" for RT to reach an audience in Europe.

However, he believes that the sanctions will not stop RT's work in Serbia.

"It is financed by Russia, and Serbia allows it, and no one can reach those who started that media in Russia, nor those who make it possible in Serbia," he says.

RSE did not receive an answer from "RT Balkan" as to whether and how this EU decision will affect RT's plans in Serbia.

By the way, in May, Brussels proposed punitive measures to third countries that deliberately circumvent EU sanctions.

On this occasion, the special envoy for the implementation of European sanctions, David O'Sullivan, discussed with the Serbian authorities in May "concrete steps" to avoid the circumvention of sanctions against Russia.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said after that meeting in May that Serbia "will not leave room to be used for illegal actions, which would enable third countries to avoid the regime of EU restrictive measures".

That position was then repeated by the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, stating that Serbia will not be a platform for circumventing sanctions.

 

 

The case of the German RT in Serbia

However, in December 2021, RT tried to bypass EU regulations through Serbia.

On December 6, the Serbian regulator, the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM), issued a satellite broadcast license to the TV channel "RT DE", RT in the German language.

In this way, "RT DE" wanted to bypass German regulations that prohibit broadcasting on foreign state-owned channels, including RT, as a Kremlin-funded media outlet, and reach viewers in Germany.

The German State Institution for the Media (MABB) then asked RT auf Deutsch (RT DE) for an explanation as to why it broadcasts the program for the German market based on a license from Serbia.

In February, an official ban on the German-language RT channel came from Germany, and Russia responded by banning the Deutsche Welle media in Russia.

The license in Serbia issued to the RT DE channel is still valid - until December 6, 2029.

 

Russian state media in Serbia

In addition to RT in Serbia, the media house "Sputnjik" has its correspondent office in Belgrade and a website with radio programs and news in the Serbian language.

"Sputnik" operates within the framework of the international news agency "Russia North" (Russia Today), which is financed by the Russian authorities.

This media is also under European sanctions for spreading Russian propaganda.

"Sputnjik" applied for a radio frequency in the territory of the city of Belgrade, but REM did not grant it with a decision from December 2022.