Research: Russia through Serbia is spreading disinformation in North Macedonia
The opinion that Russia has greater military power than NATO still prevails among the citizens of North Macedonia, according to the latest research by the Skopje-based organization “Metamorfosis”, reports The Geopost. Most of the country’s citizens, namely 49%, believe that the war in Ukraine is actually a war between Russia and NATO. This percentage is higher among citizens with higher education (50%), compared to citizens with secondary education (44%) and citizens with lower education (35%). About 39% of citizens believe that there are American laboratories for the production of biological weapons in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine is the most represented topic in the media, about which the most disinformation was published in 2023.
“Metamorphosis” research reveals the impact of disinformation, which is not only a media problem but also a security problem. Between January and September 2023, Metamorfosis monitored articles in domestic online media and social media posts suspected of containing misinformation about foreign influence in the country. According to the analysis of the topics on which disinformation is most frequently spread, most articles are related to the war in Ukraine. In this topic, 450 articles were discovered that contained a disinformation narrative, 350 were anti-Western, 250 referred to the country’s integration into the EU, 100 referred to the LGBT community, 50 were about vaccinations and 30 were conspiracy theories.
According to the research, the most specific topics known to be disinformation are: “The war in Ukraine is a war between NATO and Russia”, “Russia is not waging war in Ukraine, it is just conducting a special operation”, “Russia is fighting Nazism in Ukraine”, “Ukraine is recruiting children to the front”, “Organ trafficking in Ukraine”, “Ukraine is selling donated military aid on the black market”. “All this disinformation spread by the Kremlin and its officials is disseminated and often spread by popular media without explaining the context or without explaining that the disseminated statement contains elements of lies or manipulation,” says Filip Stojanovski, director of “Metamorphozis”. According to the research, all these articles portray Ukraine as weak, corrupt and powerless against Russia.
When asked which topics in the country actively represent Russian interests, the majority named Dimitar Apasiev’s Levica (Left) party, which has two members in the North Macedonian parliament. The investigation revealed that the majority of pro-Russian disinformation about Macedonian citizens is spread via Serbian tabloids. According to the research, this is due to the fact that Serbia is a country that still does not impose sanctions against Russia. This has enabled Russian state media to operate in Serbia in the Serbian language understood in North Macedonia, allowing Russian disinformation narratives to be spread freely through Serbian media.
In addition, citizens are more inclined to trust a media source that comes from a country like Serbia, which is considered a friendlier country towards North Macedonia, the report says. The spread of disinformation leads many citizens to believe in news aimed at portraying Russia as an alternative to the EU, at the cost of undermining trust in the West and the European integration process. According to Metamorphosis analysis, “malign foreign influences” use disinformation and media manipulation as a tool to create polarization and confusion. In their opinion, this is becoming a global problem, as it has a negative impact on the fragile democracy of North Macedonia, but also on the countries of the Western Balkans./The Geopost/