The digital platform for combating information disorder, Hibrid.info, has published the investigative report “The Russian Propaganda Network Pravda and the Balkans,” presenting key findings about a large Russian propaganda and disinformation network known as “Pravda,” which also targets the Albanian-speaking audience.
The report reveals how the “Pravda” network, consisting of dozens of interconnected websites that imitate news portals, aims to influence public opinion in over 80 countries through content that lacks credible sources. At the core of this network are pro-Russian and pro-Serbian narratives spread in an automated manner.
Special attention was given to the Albanian-language portal albania.news-pravda.com, which alone published 2,699 articles between March 28, 2024, and April 28, 2025. These articles are largely reposts from Kremlin-aligned sources such as the Telegram channels of the Russian Embassy in Tirana, as well as Russian state media, including RT, Sputnik, Tass.ru, Ria.ru, and others.
Hibrid.info analyzed over 1,000 of these articles to identify dominant themes and recurring narratives. The findings show that the articles are critical of NATO, the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA), and Western policies, especially regarding the Balkans and Kosovo’s independence. According to the analysis, the main narratives about Kosovo include denying its statehood, describing it as a “Serbian province,” comparing it to Crimea, and accusing it of “institutional terrorism against the Serbian community.”
However, the analysis also indicates that the “Pravda” network has failed to achieve real influence among the Albanian-speaking audience due to poor automatic translations often resulting in unclear language, a complete lack of presence on social media platforms popular in the region, very low follower counts, absence from Google search results, and minimal website traffic—averaging only 11 organic visits per day.
Separately, the report notes that the Balkans are a primary target of the “Pravda” network, accounting for 16.2% of its total content, despite the region representing only 3.2% of the global population. Serbia emerges as the most targeted country, with content volume 10.1 times higher per capita than the global average.
The main objective of the “Pravda” network is to indirectly influence the Albanian digital space by saturating it with Russian narratives through continuous content repetition, aiming also to impact artificial intelligence models such as chatbots.
The full report:
