Putin's face on front pages sells 40% more newspapers in Serbia — fact-checker Subotić

He shared his thoughts in an interview with the Insight News Media.

Serbia is often described as one of the countries where Russian propaganda has found fertile ground. Why do you think Serbia has been so receptive to these narratives?

"Serbia is definitely a disinformation hub, and specifically a Russian disinformation hub in the heart of the Balkans."

There is a historical sentiment towards Russian people. At certain times in history, for example in the 18th and especially the 19th century, Serbia was fighting for its independence and received help from the Russians in wars against the Ottoman Turks and Austria-Hungary. That's one of the reasons, but also here people have a lot of love for all Slavic peoples.

Since everything started in Ukraine, not just three or four years ago but back in 2014, there has been a lot of disinformation. Generally, all Slavic people are well accepted here, and a typical Serbian wouldn't be able to tell if someone is Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, or some other nationality from Eastern Europe.

What are the most popular narratives coming from Russia to Serbia?

Russian narratives are more focused on Ukraine, the EU, and Western countries, especially when the Biden administration was in power, and now a little less since Trump is seen as a better option for Putin.

"When we talk about narratives about Ukraine, there is always disinformation about neo-Nazi groups and about Zelenskyy as a person—some kind of corruption, whether he has an Israeli passport, or if he has a villa in Miami, or lots of money."

Russian propaganda focuses on anti-LGBT messages, anti-Western politics, anti-liberalism. It's more about ideology. You also hear that not only is Zelenskyy a Nazi, but also Ursula von der Leyen or some other European politicians, mainly from the Baltic region.

Is Russian disinformation also used to undermine domestic issues in Serbia?

It is mostly focused on something outside of Serbia, but we have some examples. For example, our propagandistic media use Russian propaganda to justify what politicians here are doing. The Russian Secret Service helped our Secret Service track protesters. So they use the FSB to say, "Oh, the FSB said that, so it must be true."

Of course, there are Russian media here, like Sputnik and RT, and they do their propaganda. But I'm not sure how much we even need them, because we already have domestic tabloids that are pro-Russian. They deliberately use Russian sources, translating news from TASS or from other agencies. They basically transfer those narratives from Russian media for free.

Could you describe the media system in Serbia?

"The media are very, very polarised. Most of the media are state-affiliated. You don't have a single television channel with a national frequency that is not state-affiliated in some way. All of them are propagandistic."

When we talk about online media, we do have a few very good investigative portals and four portals that do fact-checking. But most people here are older, and they still watch TV, and that is a bit of a problem.

"And almost all state-affiliated media spread pro-Russian narratives. We have a famous quote from one of the editors of the best-selling tabloid in Serbia. He said, "When I put Putin's head on the front page, I know I'll sell about 40% more papers that day, so I'm doing it.""

It's a combination of sentiment, money, and geopolitics — that's why we have so much Russian propaganda here. Serbia kind of works as a disinformation hub, where Russian propaganda is translated and then spread to Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and maybe even a bit to Macedonia.

Do you observe a coordinated network of Russian disinformation media in Serbia?

Russia Today and Sputnik are definitely working in a coordinated way. We also have Pravda and had a portal called Russia Beyond focused on pop culture.

"I think Telegram is a big problem because there are a lot of groups spreading Russian disinformation there. We also have a TV show called Aktuelnosti with national coverage—it's basically two or three hours of Russian propaganda taken straight from Telegram channels."

The guests are also very problematic—some of them are ex-war criminals from the Balkan Wars, convicted criminals. Some were even prosecuted at The Hague for war crimes. Those people are the same ones who don't believe COVID is real, who are pro-Trump, pro-Putin, and silent about Gaza.

In some European countries, Russia uses local actors like bloggers who are paid to promote pro-Russian views. Are there similar cases in Serbia?

I don't think anyone really has to pay someone in Serbia to say pro-Russian things, because they already say them. If I were Putin, I would say that would be wasted money, because there are already a lot of people here who want to go to Ukraine and fight on the Russian side. I actually know one guy who wants to do that.

You don't have to pay influencers—you already have them, and they've been doing it for free for years.

How was Ukraine portrayed in Serbia before 2022?

There have always been pro-Russian narratives. Obviously, there was a huge surge after 2022, but even before that you would see Putin on front pages with articles about Russia discovering a vaccine for cancer or making major technological breakthroughs.

"You also had magazines like Russian Doctor about Russian "natural medicine" and herbs. When you add 'Russian' as a prefix to something in Serbia, it is perceived as ultimately good by at least 60% of people, especially when it comes to medicine and health."

There is this weird sentiment that everything Russian is natural—'Mother Russia' is a common saying here. But everything from the West is seen as artificial, drugs, LGBT, paedophilia. When you look at Russia, it is associated with tradition and family. And when you look at the West, it is all about narratives of wrongdoing.

"But you can't really blame Serbian people, because we experienced NATO aggression. How can you expect someone here to love NATO when, only twenty years ago, they bombed us without UN approval?"

What is it like to work as a fact-checker in Serbia today?

It's a problem because trust in the media here is so low. You publish an article showing that a tabloid lied, and people react like, "Wow, what news—everyone knows tabloids lie."

There are hardcore groups who believe tabloids, and it's very hard to change their minds. They've been fed propaganda for fifteen years under this ruling party, and before that, in the 1990s, it was the same.

It's very hard to reach the public. Between those who believe everything and those who are already media-literate, it's difficult to push any story and for someone to actually care enough to share it.

"The problem is so big that maybe we need something more than fact-checking portals and just saying that they are lying, because everybody already knows they are lying—but we have to do something more than that."