The screening took place in Pristina at Reporting House, gathering journalists, civil society representatives, and members of the public to reflect on the evolving information landscape shaped by the war in Ukraine.
The film, Russian Disinformation after the Invasion of Ukraine, presents evidence of how manipulated narratives targeting Albanian-speaking audiences have been disseminated through translated and republished content originating from Serbian and Russian media outlets.
Focusing on coverage of the war in Ukraine, the documentary shows patterns of foreign information manipulation and influence in Kosovo’s media environment. It shows how foreign interference seeks to shape opinions within different communities in Kosovo, including efforts to influence the public discourse in the Serbian community. The findings highlight how disinformation campaigns adapt across languages and borders, reinforcing political narratives aligned with Kremlin interests.
Opening the event, Jeta Xharra, Executive Director of BIRN Kosovo, emphasized the symbolic importance of the anniversary and the war’s relationship to Kosovo’s own history of war.
“It is not just one or two years of solidarity. We continue to think about Ukraine and what is happening there. It reminds us of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and the people who were killed in Kosovo, who were forced to flee this country. We remember them, just as we remember the victims of the Kremlin,” Xharra said.
Speaking at the premiere, Ukrainian journalist Iryna Synelnyk, who has been based in Kosovo, reflected on her personal experience of disinformation.
“When I arrived in Pristina in July 2022, I did not know much about Kosovo. Now I understand that some of the information I had previously read was Russian and Serbian propaganda. That is why it is so important to talk about this, and to fight it,” she said.
The documentary is part of the Media Integrity and Disinformation Watch project, supported by the British embassy in Kosovo, an initiative aimed at countering disinformation through investigative reporting and systematic documentation.
Over the course of the project, five documentaries were produced, tracing the development and impact of disinformation related to economy, religion, ethnicity and elections as well as foreign malign influence coming from Russia.
Of the 49 participants, 18 were men and 31 were women.
The event served as both a moment of remembrance and a call to sustained vigilance in confronting disinformation in Kosovo and beyond.