The article suggests that the campaign involving public figures and intellectuals is “formally non-partisan but obviously anti-regime”, with America pulling the strings through non-governmental organizations.
By involving the Americans, the CIA, Soros and foreign embassies, RT Balkansin a well-known manner in Serbia, targets civil society organizations in Serbia and the ProGlas initiative.
The “ProGlas” initiative was announced from the start as a group critical of the government and aimed at increasing voter turnout in the upcoming elections. The call to abstainers to use their right to vote on election day is the main message of the “ProGlas” initiative.
What is also common knowledge is that many activist groups united around the “Dokle više” campaign in early November, even before the official presentation of the “ProGlas” initiative. This campaign calls on citizens to turn out massively for the elections and to protect the ballot boxes. Civic Initiatives are part of this campaign, alongside other activists and movements.
Political analyst Aleksandar Dokic believes that Kremlin-controlled media in Serbia, such as RT Balkans And Sputnikinvest more effort in promoting the regime in Belgrade than that in Moscow.
“The reason is simple. Margarita Simonyan, who oversees both state media companies from Moscow, handed over management of the Kremlin media in Serbia to the Trgovčević family (mother is editor-in-chief of Sputnik, daughter is editor-in-chief of RT ). When it comes to people living mainly in Serbia, they are mostly informed about Vučić and not about Putin, even if the latter officially pays them,” notes Đokić.
He adds that there is no discrepancy between the Kremlin media in Serbia and the state or pro-regime media in Serbia regarding the Vučić regime.
“For everyone, Vučić should forever remain an undisputed leader,” says Đokić.
According to him, the current state of Serbian society is such that every information from Russia is adopted uncritically and positively, while every information from the West is received uncritically and negatively.
“This is how the electoral base of the SNS, SPS and nationalist parties think, which still constitute the absolute majority of the electorate. Furthermore, the specific influence of the Russian media, or the Kremlin, is not great, simply because media close to the regime, notably the tabloids, convey identical anti-Western propaganda stories. In other words, the Kremlin media cannot break into the Serbian scene dominated by pro-regime media,” concludes Aleksandar Dokić.
The question of how much money the media and civil society receive from international donors regularly becomes a topic for some media outlets, especially before elections. Often, media close to the ruling party publish lists of who receives how much money from the European Union or its member states, presenting them as a significant revelation and exposure, even though this data has always been publicly available .
What are these articles for, including the last one? Građanske InitiativeWhat is forgotten to recognize is that the biggest beneficiary of foreign funds is the Serbian state and its institutions.
As ISF previously reported, over the past 18 years, taxpayers of EU member states have donated more than 3.6 billion in non-refundable funds in various areas. Thanks to IPA funds, the Serbian state and its institutions receive around 200 million euros per year, making Serbia the largest recipient of European funds in the region.
