The Russian media outlet "Russia Today Balkans (RT Balkans)" Serbian language service has published an article claiming that the West is provoking the outbreak of a revolution in Serbia by inciting extremists from Pristina.
The claim is based on a statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who claims that “malicious foreign factors are trying to incite extremists from Pristina to Belgrade to influence Serbia's leadership".
The entire claim is therefore built solely on Zakharova's statements to RT, but not on any concrete facts.
Link to the article published on RT Balkan in Serbian:
https://lat.rt.rs/rusija/35195-rusija-zaharova-srbija-msp-pristina-kim-obojena-revolucija-vlast/
Parts of Zakharova's statement published on RT Balkan in Serbian:
"We are convinced that the Serbian people and the elected government are capable of resolving current national issues on their own. They are being hindered in this by malicious foreign factors who are trying to incite extremists from Pristina to Belgrade to influence the leadership of Serbia."
The author of this article, in addition to publishing an opinion that does not provide facts, does not provide any additional facts that could support the claim in the title.
The claim in question is part of the Russian media narrative about Western infiltration into domestic politics in Serbia, to overthrow the current government and bring in a puppet government.
The involvement of Albanian extremists in this planning was linked to recent developments in northern Kosovo, suggesting that this plan also aims to incite war against Serbia.
Recently, US officials have continued to react to the steps taken by the Kosovo Government in northern Kosovo, calling for de-escalation of the situation.
It was US President Joe Biden's envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, who recently asked the Kosovo government to de-escalate the situation, and this would include a plan that the mayors would not necessarily need to work in those buildings, while tensions are so high; the second path is new elections with the participation of Serbs; and the third we should move immediately towards the implementation of the Ohrid agreement. (here)
The US ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, was more scathing about the Kosovo government’s failure to listen to the de-escalation of the situation in the north. He said Washington has “some very fundamental problems” with Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, and that, if we can still consider him a partner. (here)
Hibrid.info has addressed this claim before, arguing that through their reactions to the steps taken in northern Kosovo, the US, EU and KFOR denied the claim that the latter are part of such a plan. (see the treatment) here)
Analyze:
From the facts examined and verified by hibrid.info, it appears that the claim published in this article is not argued at all.
All the allusions made by spokesperson Zakharova are not based on facts, except for the interpretation linking the recent developments in northern Kosovo and the opposition protests in Belgrade, as Western interference in Serbia's internal affairs using Albanians.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info considers this claim to be a "conspiracy theory".
Reasoning:
"Conspiracy theories" are media reports that disseminate a false or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event, or person, presenting it as part of or the result of a secret plan ("conspiracy"). A characteristic of these reports is that they present a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause-effect relationships are established, without providing any credible evidence.