EU: RUSSIA CONTINUES TO HAVE SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE IN WESTERN BALKANS AND POWER TO INFLUENCE REGIONAL ATTEMPTS AT RECONCILIATION, INTEGRATION AND REFORM TOWARDS DEMOCRATIZATION

PODGORICA, APRIL 25 (ONASA.MINA) – Russia continues to have significant influence in the Western Balkans, and the power to influence regional attempts at reconciliation, integration and reform in the direction of democratization, according to the compromise amendments to the Draft Report on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union (EU).
In the document, which the Television of Montenegro (TVCG) had access to, it is said that countries acceding to the EU face challenges arising from malicious foreign interference and disinformation campaigns.
As the portal RTCG reports, the members of the Committee for Foreign Interference in the European Parliament (EP) will vote on that document tomorrow.
The compromise amendments state that recent events have shown that the lack of enlargement has a serious strategic cost.
“Because the Western Balkans is an area of strategic and geopolitical competition and some of its countries are prone to destabilization, threatening the security and stability of the continent,” the document added.
It is emphasized that third countries take advantage of vulnerabilities in the region, through strategic investments and disinformation campaigns, whose goal is to negatively influence the growing Euro-Atlantic orientation and stability of individual countries and the change of orientation of the region as a whole.
“Russia uses its influence in Serbia by trying to destabilize and influence neighboring sovereign states: in Bosnia through Republika Srpska, in Montenegro through pro-Serbian sentiments in the country, as well as the Serbian Orthodox Church, and in Kosovo by using and fueling existing tensions in the North” , the document states.
As it is added, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has made more obvious the connection between attempts at foreign manipulation of information and threats to the EU and its immediate neighborhood, the Western Balkans and the countries of the Eastern Partnership, and the impact on global security and stability.
“Russia continues to have significant influence in the Western Balkans, and has the power to influence regional attempts at reconciliation, integration and reform in the direction of democratization,” the amendments say.
It is emphasized that Serbia has become a safe haven for some Russian companies that want to avoid or circumvent the sanctions introduced by the EU, because since July of last year there have been several offices in that country of Russia Today in Belgrade, which launched its online news service in the Serbian language. .
In one of the amendments, the MEPs express regret for the lack of progress and the continued slow pace of the Western Balkans enlargement process, which has led to “a decrease in EU support and frustration among the population of the Western Balkans”.
They condemn Russia’s continued attempts to exert influence in the Western Balkans, “which must be understood as part of a broader strategy to promote authoritarianism in Europe.”
The amendments highlight concerns over recent findings that Serbia is the country most susceptible to malicious foreign influence in the Western Balkans, especially from Russia and China, and that Serbia has not yet applied sanctions against Russia and has not aligned itself with EU foreign policy.
MPs expect the EU to strengthen resources in the field of strategic communications, in order to suppress disinformation, whose aim is to undermine the interests and values of the EU.