Pristina, June 18, 2025 – The digital platform for the fight against information disorder, Hibrid.info, has published the research report "Russian Propaganda Network Pravda and the Balkans", which presents the main findings on a large Russian propaganda and disinformation network, known as "Pravda", which has also targeted the Albanian-speaking audience.
The report shows how the “Pravda” network, consisting of dozens of websites that mimic news portals and are interconnected, aims to influence public opinion in over 80 countries through content that is not based on reliable sources. At the core of this network are pro-Russian and pro-Serbian narratives that are spread in an automated manner.
Special attention was paid to the Albanian-language portal albania.news-pravda.com, which during the period March 28, 2024 - April 28, 2025 alone published 2,699 articles, which are reprints from sources close to the Kremlin, such as the Telegram channels of the Russian Embassy in Tirana, as well as Russian state media such as RT, Sputnik, Tass.ru, Ria.ru, etc.
Hibrid.info has analyzed over 1 of these articles, with the aim of identifying dominant themes and recurring narratives. The findings show that the articles are critical of NATO, the European Union (EU), the United States of America (US) and Western policies, especially in relation to the Balkans and Kosovo’s independence. According to the analysis, the main narratives spread about Kosovo are that: Kosovo is denied as a state, described as a “province of Serbia”, compared to Crimea and accused of “institutional terrorism against the Serbian community”.
However, the analysis shows that the “Pravda” network has failed to have a real impact on the Albanian-speaking audience, due to: poor automatic translations and often incomprehensible language, a total lack of presence on social networks used in the region, a very low number of followers, a lack of presence in Google search results, and minimal website traffic – with only 11 organic visits per day.
The report notes that the Balkans are one of the main targets of the Pravda network, accounting for 16.2% of total content, even though the region represents only 3.2% of the global population. Serbia turns out to be the most targeted country, with 10.1 times more content per capita than the global average.
The main goal of the Pravda network is to influence indirectly by loading the Albanian-speaking digital space with Russian narratives through the constant repetition of content, with the aim of also influencing artificial intelligence models such as chatbots.
Full report: