“In Serbia, the Same Narratives Propagated by Russian Media Are Used. When I Say I’m Ukrainian, They Tell Me I’m Russian.”
AMO
/ Ed. 2. 12. 2024
Taras, a Ukrainian, arrived in Serbia during the first wave of refugees following Russia's attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. He is one of 43,000 displaced Ukrainians who made their way to Serbia through the few available safe passages and after traveling thousands of kilometers, seeking refuge from Russia's destruction of their homeland. Today, about 4,500 Ukrainians remain in Serbia.
Since then, Taras has managed to find a job and has learned Serbian exceptionally well, speaking almost without an accent. He doesn’t follow the media much, but his main impression is that Serbian people are victims of propaganda—pro-Russian propaganda. He says he came to this conclusion simply by talking to people, as they often repeat identical phrases tirelessly broadcast by Russian propaganda and further developed by Serbian media outlets aligned with it. Their messages are straightforward: Ukrainians are Russians, Ukraine is a small part of Russia, Ukrainians and Russians are brothers, and Russia was defending itself from NATO and was thus forced to attack Ukraine…
The article by Aleksandar Roknić was originaly published with the support of the project Enhancing the Capacities of Serbian Investigative Journalists in Mapping Foreign Influence in Serbia by Danas. You can read the original version in Serbian here.
