The Kremlin Speaks Albanian, but lies!

Relentless propaganda and public disinformation, aimed at justifying an illegal machinery of violence, remain key features of Russia’s hybrid aggression. The Kremlin openly treats information as a weapon, wielded like any other weapon used in war. At the heart of this propaganda machinery stands “the repetition of a few basic messages for both domestic and international audiences,” according to the platform “EUvsDisinfo”.

This repetition technique aims to make lies more credible and experts suggest that pro-Kremlin disinformation channels use “a limited set of endlessly recycled narratives, that work as default models for fictionalized stories” about issues such as the war in Ukraine, the “Western threat,” and ‘NATO’s expansionist ego’.

And while these narratives, as exposed by “EUvsDisinfo” experts, have become ingrained in the fabric of Russia’s political power, the way they are used to generate specific media stories and the way these stories are disseminated to reach diverse audiences through a multitude of channels, makes it a unique study case.

A recent report by the U.S. Department of State, titled “Pillars of the Russian Propaganda and Disinformation Ecosystem,” thoroughly examines how Russia amplifies its false narratives through a well-constructed ecosystem founded on five key pillars, which are:

1. Official government communications – using statements and official social media posts.
2. International messaging by state-controlled media + socio-cultural institutions.
3. Co-opting proxy sources, which hide individuals that benefit from Kremlin ties.
4. Exploiting social media platforms for content that mines the trust in democratic institutions.
5. Cyber-enabled methods such as hacking, cloned websites, shutting down objective websites, ect.

One of the pillars of this ecosystem, recently reactivated in the Albanian language, is “Official Communications” through posts on the Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in Tirana. As we will see below, this page does not merely share content about diplomatic activities; it has effectively become a branch of Russia’s larger propaganda ecosystem, amplifying in Albanian language the narrative models that flow from the Kremlin into the Balkans.

More than that, the Russian Embassy in Tirana operates through social media posts as an active agent of disinformation, even labeling journalists or authors who write about Russia as ‘Russophobes’.

Furthermore, in a post dated September 19, the embassy commented on the International Human Rights Film Festival held in Tirana, declaring that baseless accusations were made there against Russia for committing “atrocities” against the civilian population in the area of the “special military operation.” This post prompted a response from the festival’s director, Kujtim Çashku, who said that one cannot remain silent about what is happening in Europe and that the festival has for years presented films and documentaries exploring human rights violations, threats to democracies, mass murders, and rapes…

But let’s turn to an interview given by the new Russian ambassador to Tirana, Alexey Zaitsev, to the state news agency “Ria Novosti,” where he reiterates Russia’s false narratives about the West, the Balkans, Albania, and Ukraine.

By examining the ambassador’s claims, translated and posted in Albanian on the embassy’s official page, we can understand how they originate from the propaganda ecosystem and how, in the end, the ambassador’s role mirrors that of the subservient journalists of Russian state media, or the Kremlin trolls who attempt to distort public opinion in the digital space.

The dissemination of these narratives online in Albanian also shows that the role of Russia’s Embassy in Tirana as an active agent of Russian disinformation does not differ much from the role of the bureaucratic leadership of “Ria Novosti,” the agency where the ambassador gave the interview, and which, along with “RT,” was recently sanctioned by the U.S. for being integral parts of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.

•Verification of the ambassador’s claims in Albanian:

1. The Ambassador claims: The Western Balkans is perhaps a clear example of the manifestation of the neocolonial ambitions of the U.S. and the EU, which use the region in their geopolitical games and actively promote the ideology of NATO-centrism, which is dangerous for regional peace and stability. They seek to subjugate local elites, destroying the sovereignty of the Balkan states.

The truth: In the Kremlin’s worldview, the Balkans are always seen through the lens of Russia’s relationship with the West. Meanwhile, Russian propaganda in the Balkans, mainly through “Sputnik Serbia,” continually demonizes the U.S. and the EU, treating the region’s countries as weak, corrupt, and politically dependent on the West.

As a matter of fact, the U.S. and the EU remain allies and partners for the ongoing progress of the Balkan countries, continually encouraging, promoting, and supporting the strengthening of democracies in the Western Balkans, including the rule of law as a guarantee of democracy. The partnership of countries like Albania with the EU and the U.S. is primarily an alliance inspired by shared values such as freedom, equality, and justice—elements that for Russia and its officials are seen as threats to Putin’s “one-man-show” system.

The narrative of the Balkans as a puppet in the hands of the West is an old and now routine phenomenon in Russian sources or proxy sites, which do not spare NATO from pseudo-histories like: “NATO the warmonger,” “NATO exploits Ukraine,” “NATO centralism,” “NATO enslaves Finland,” etc.

Media content analyses, conducted periodically by “EUvsDisinfo,” show that Russia treats the enlargement of NATO as an expansion, even attributing the new memberships of Finland and Sweden to the alliance not to the will of these two countries to join, but to NATO’s determination to encircle Russia.
(See: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/three-kremlin-disinformation-narratives-about-nato-enlargement/)

In fact, NATO’s goal is not to encircle Russia or threaten Russians. The fact is that “even after Finland’s membership, only 11% of Russia’s land borders are shared with NATO countries.” (See: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/115204.htm)

NATO does not seek confrontation with Russia. While it claims NATO-centric policies reduce legal security guarantees outside the alliance’s perimeter, Russia itself does not seem to demonstrate with its actions that it truly wants to contribute to the European security. Killing innocent children on playgrounds or bombing hospitals in broad daylight does not show even the slightest desire to contribute to the security of the continent.

2. The Ambassador claims: With the start of the special military operation in Ukraine and Albania’s alignment with illegal anti-Russian sanctions, cultural and humanitarian cooperation has reached level zero.

The truth: In Ukraine, this is not a special operation but an open, violent, and illegal aggression against a free country. Russia’s behavior violates Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter, which requires member states to refrain from “the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

The ambassador claims Albania has joined illegal anti-Russian sanctions, but all EU sanctions are fully in line with international law obligations, respecting human rights.

One of the most widespread narratives about sanctions is that “European sanctions against Russia don’t work,” that “sanctions cost Europe more than they cost Russia,” and that “the European economy loses billions because of sanctions.”

In February 2022, Albania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that the country had joined individual sanctions freezing assets and economic sanctions with restrictive measures in finance, energy, transport, and technology.

At the time, Minister Olta Xhaçka also explained why Albania supports the sanctions:

“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is unprovoked. This is not a defensive war, and it is not a war waged in the name of Russia’s legitimate security interests or those of the Russian people. Responsibility for this war rests with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leadership, and no one else.”

So, contrary to Russian propaganda claims, the West and Albania have no interest in harming the Russian people.
They are simply supporting a free country against the threat posed by one man—Vladimir Putin—who, in fact, has also taken his people’s future hostage.

“The Russian state budget has lost trillions of rubles (due to restrictive trade measures that have hit revenues from oil and gas, the two main pillars of the Russian economy). This is why its disinformation network produces lies and conspiracy theories about the sanctions,” writes “EUvsDisinfo.” (See: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/sanctions-do-not-work-russian-disinfo/)

3. The Ambassador claims: Unlike many other European countries, Russophobia in Albania is not as pronounced, though the embassy is aware of cases where Russian citizens have been denied banking services and other services solely based on their nationality.

The truth: The ambassador provides no details, evidence, or proof of this claim. He doesn’t even offer further clarification as to whether Albanian authorities have been contacted about this issue.

The “discrimination against Russians” and “Russophobia” are traditionally central parts of the disinformation lexicon.
For example, the Russian state radio station Vesti FM suggests that “Russians are the Jews of our time”—“a persecuted nation.” (See: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/the-terrible-russophobia/)

Thus, even to this point, the ambassador, as an active protagonist within the propaganda ecosystem, does not differ from the “soldiers” of the media outlet “Vesti FM.”

4. The Ambassador claims: Tirana consistently supports various anti-Russian platforms of the Kyiv regime, such as the Crimea Platform, and Albania, according to him, often takes initiatives to confront the “Russian threat in international organizations like the UN, OSCE, and others”.

Once again, the ambassador shines the Kremlin’s spotlight from their preferred angle.

The Crimea Platform is not an anti-Russian initiative, but a format aimed at raising international awareness of human rights violations in Crimea.

Regarding Crimea, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, as Chairperson of the OSCE in 2020, supported the need for dialogue as the best way to achieve peace. Most recently, at the UN General Assembly, the Albanian Prime Minister called for a just peace that ends the injustices and atrocities against the people of Ukraine. But it is precisely the words “dialogue” and “just peace” that Russia scorns and rejects!

Thus, while feeding directly from his office in Tirana one of the limbs of the propaganda monster, the Russian state-controlled media, the ambassador turns his megaphone toward the Albanian audience, reactivating social media channels in Albanian language, but with grand lies that hold value only within the uniformity of Putinism, not that of the free and democratic world.

Fact-checking and exposing these lies is essential to cutting off the evil that they emit. Companies like META have not remained indifferent to the malicious content coming through official Russian channels. One of the most well-known cases occurred in 2022, when Facebook and Twitter removed a post by the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom, as the embassy claimed that the images of a hospital bombing in Mariupol, Ukraine, were staged.

In September 2024, META, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, announced that it is blocking Russian state media from accessing its platforms to prevent foreign interference.
Even TikTok has announced it has banned accounts linked to Russian state media for “engaging in covert influence operations.” The banned accounts are those from the media group Rossiya Segodnya, which owns the news services RIA Novosti and Sputnik.

In 2022, META disabled a disinformation network originating from Russia that used hundreds of fake social media accounts and dozens of fake news websites to spread pre-prepared Kremlin narratives to audiences in European countries. According to Facebook, this was the largest and most complex Russian propaganda effort since the beginning of the aggression in Ukraine./euronews.al/