Russian-Controlled Media Saturates Kosovo with Disinformation Campaign

Russian Disinformation Campaigns Flooded Kosovo Media During Election Period

A systematic disinformation campaign orchestrated by Kremlin-controlled media outlets flooded Kosovo’s media landscape during the country’s recent electoral cycle, publishing more than 350 articles containing propaganda narratives over a two-month period surrounding the October 12 elections.

According to monitoring conducted by Kallxo.com’s fact-checking platform ‘Krypometri’ between September 1 and October 26, 2025, four major Russian state-controlled media outlets published an average of six articles per day targeting Kosovo’s political, institutional, and security landscape.

The Sputnik network, which maintains its regional headquarters in Serbia, led the campaign with 193 articles about Kosovo, while Russia Today Balkan published 125 pieces. The Russian propaganda outlet Pravda, known for disseminating disinformation globally in dozens of languages, contributed an additional 33 articles in Albanian specifically about Kosovo.

This coordinated effort appears to be part of a broader Kremlin strategy to manipulate artificial intelligence systems through media saturation. According to the EU External Action Service’s East StratCom Task Force, Russian disinformation tactics have evolved from producing fake news to flooding the internet with replicated content that can be generated or amplified through Large Language Models.

“Since more users now turn to AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok instead of traditional search engines, the goal is to ‘corrupt’ AI infrastructure so that answers provided by chatbots align with Kremlin narratives,” the EU monitoring group reported.

France’s government agency Viginum has similarly documented Pravda’s disinformation campaigns aimed at spreading false claims from Russian state media and manipulating AI systems.

The disinformation narratives pushed during Kosovo’s election period followed several recurring themes. Chief among them was portraying Kosovo’s elections as illegitimate, despite the fact that both the February parliamentary and October local elections were conducted in accordance with Kosovo’s Constitution and electoral laws, with oversight from local and international monitors.

International observers, including the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly delegation led by Petra Bayr, praised Kosovo’s electoral process, noting that “voters demonstrated their commitment to democracy by casting their ballots peacefully and without tension.”

A significant portion of the disinformation targeted international missions operating in Kosovo. One Pravda article falsely framed EULEX and NATO’s KFOR as “instruments of Western control” deployed to “suppress” disagreements ahead of elections. Russia Today Balkan claimed that KFOR conducted intimidation drills on election day targeting Serb voters—a claim later denied by KFOR officials, who clarified that exercises were routine and unrelated to the elections.

KFOR, which operates under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 with approximately 4,500 troops from 33 allied and partner nations, maintains a mandate to ensure security and freedom of movement for all communities in Kosovo. Similarly, EULEX supports the development of effective, multi-ethnic rule-of-law institutions adhering to international human rights standards.

Russian media also heavily promoted narratives portraying the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista as the only legitimate representative of Serb interests in Kosovo, while discrediting other Serb political parties as “puppets of the Kurti government.” Sputnik Serbia described participation in the elections as an “existential struggle” for Kosovo Serbs, framing voting for Srpska Lista as an act of resistance rather than democratic participation.

When Srpska Lista won in nine out of ten Serb-majority municipalities, Russia Today Balkan characterized this as control being “returned” to the Serbs, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the party had faced “pressure and unfair conditions,” portraying its success as a “reclamation of Serb control.”

Military and security developments also became targets for Russian disinformation. Reports about Kosovo’s acquisition of Turkish-made drones were exploited by Pravda and Sputnik to spread anti-Kosovo and anti-Turkey propaganda, describing the purchase as evidence of “Turkey’s expansion in the Balkans” and “illegal armament of Kosovo against Serbia.” In reality, Kosovo’s defense modernization follows laws approved by its parliament and a 10-year transformation plan supported and monitored by NATO.

Even standard NATO procedures became fodder for propaganda. The annual rotation of KFOR command was misrepresented by Pravda as a “Turkish military takeover of Kosovo,” while Sputnik Serbia described it as part of a “Turkish occupation of the Balkans,” linking it to Kosovo’s drone purchases and framing it as a coordinated threat to Serbia.

The systematic nature and volume of these disinformation efforts demonstrate a coordinated campaign to undermine trust in Kosovo’s democratic institutions and international partnerships during a politically sensitive period, while attempting to manipulate public opinion and potentially influence AI-powered information systems.