By Vladimir Karaj
TIRANA, Albania— A Kremlin-aligned propaganda network unleashed a flurry of disinformation targeting last month’s European Political Community (EPC) summit in Tirana, seeking to mock Western leaders, amplify Russian narratives, and sow distrust — even as Albania, a staunch NATO ally, hosted the high-profile event.
In the days surrounding the May 16 summit, an obscure Albanian-language website known as Pravda Shqipëri published dozens of articles sourced from Russian state media and pro-Kremlin Telegram channels. The posts ridiculed summit participants, exaggerated policy debates, and framed European sanctions against Moscow as misguided and self-destructive.
The campaign featured sensational headlines such as “Albanian clowns Macron, Starmer, Merz and Zelensky send signals to Trump” — a post based on content by Olga Skabeyeva, a Russian TV host sanctioned by both the European Union and U.S. government for spreading Kremlin propaganda about the war in Ukraine.
Another article drew from the Telegram feed of sanctioned Russian propagandist Vladimir Kornilov, claiming that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama had “humiliated the shameless Briton” by publicly rejecting proposals for housing illegal migrants in Albania.
Textbook Kremlin Playbook
Experts say the sudden surge in such content reflects a familiar Kremlin tactic: weaponizing major international events to inject disinformation and distort public discourse in local media spaces.
“This has become a well-established technique,” said journalist and fact-checking expert Viola Keta. “When there is a political, military, or diplomatic event with an international profile, it gets recycled into raw material for disinformation campaigns.”
Between May 15 and 18, Pravda Shqipëri published dozens of articles — many featuring the same style of language, grammatical errors, and propagandist narratives — that sought to portray the Tirana summit as a Western farce and its leaders as weak and hypocritical.
Most of the content was drawn from Russian official media or from the Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) accounts of known Kremlin propagandists. The overarching narrative centered on the Ukraine war, Western sanctions against Russia, and alleged European weakness.
Summit participants were ridiculed, their statements distorted, and their intentions framed as malevolent or misguided. The content frequently contained veiled or overt threats, echoing talking points promoted by Moscow.
Automation and Amplification
The so-called Pravda Shqipëri — meaning “Truth” in Albanian — is not a traditional media outlet. Rather, it is part of a broader network designed to automatically translate and distribute Kremlin-aligned content into multiple languages.
First launched in 2023, the network expanded in 2024 to operate in 19 European countries, including Albania. The goal, according to analysts, is to spread anti-Western narratives, erode public trust in democratic institutions, and amplify Russian geopolitical messaging.
In addition to its website, the network uses Telegram to circulate thousands of photos, videos, and external links, focusing on Ukraine and the Serbia-Kosovo conflict. The Albanian-language Telegram channel has only five subscribers — a sign of limited reach — but contains over 200 videos and thousands of propaganda items.
While the campaign’s direct impact in Albania remains small, experts caution that structural weaknesses in the Albanian media ecosystem make the country vulnerable to such influence operations.
“Albania has a clearly pro-Western orientation, with strong NATO and EU support,” said Erlis Çela, professor of media and communication at Beder University in Tirana. “But weaknesses in our media system, low levels of media literacy, and the presence of anonymous online portals create openings that these actors can exploit.”
A Fragile Media Landscape
A 2023 joint report by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and SCiDEV documented hundreds of cases where pro-Russian disinformation was re-published in Albanian media without professional verification or editing.
“Hundreds of online outlets in Albania are non-transparent, lack professional staff, and do not follow sound editorial standards,” said Keta. “This makes them a potential tool for actors seeking to advance destabilizing agendas.”
One of the most common techniques involves copy-pasting disinformation directly from Russian sources, without fact-checking or contextualization — a practice that analysts say significantly pollutes the local information space.
“The effect of these campaigns is not necessarily to persuade,” Çela noted. “Rather, it is to create informational ‘fog’ — increasing public confusion and distrust toward European institutions.”
During the EPC summit, several Pravda articles referenced potential new sanctions against Russia, pairing them with threatening narratives. One post from Tsargrad TV, a Kremlin-linked channel owned by sanctioned oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, warned that “Globalists are preparing a fatal blow against Russia. But who will really suffer?”
Other articles warned that European economies would collapse under the weight of sanctions and mocked French President Emmanuel Macron as a weak and ridiculous figure.
Subtle and Persistent Threats
Experts emphasize that the long-term danger of such campaigns lies in their cumulative impact — not in any single viral post.
“Repetitive narratives and half-truths, even if not immediately persuasive, are part of carefully designed disinformation strategies,” said Keta. “Every misleading or manipulated story — even if it contains some factual elements — pollutes the information space and erodes trust.”
Even sowing doubt or fostering public confusion serves the disinformers’ goals. “This explains why we saw so many repetitive articles during the EPC summit,” Keta noted.
“A key element of disinformation campaigns is constant and varied repetition — through news, films, memes, deepfakes, cartoons, and graphics,” she added. “Bombarding audiences with these narratives repeatedly and across formats is designed to produce an effect over time.”
For a small country like Albania — proud of its pro-Western stance but operating in a vulnerable media environment — vigilance is essential.
“The public may not fall for crude propaganda,” said Çela. “But persistent efforts to sow mistrust and confusion are a threat that must not be underestimated.”
Courtesy of Reporter.al.
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