Author: OctopusInstitute
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to work with the Octopus Institute and share my insights on Russian and Serbian electoral manipulation and influence. As a Ukrainian journalist I have been participating in the Journalist-in-Residence program since 2022 and living in Pristina. I have discovered that the Russian war against Ukraine and its hybrid warfare tactics have many similarities with the actions of Serbia against Kosovo. As Russia tries to restore the “Russian world” in Ukraine as Serbia wants to build the “Serbian world” in the Balkans. Russia and Serbia have historical…
At a time when security and democracy, not only in the Western Balkans, but across Europe, are facing increasingly sophisticated forms of hybrid interference, ELECTIONS as a cornerstone of the liberal order, have become a strategic target of hybrid operations, aimed at manipulating public opinion, polarizing societies, undermining trust in institutions, and provoking continuous crises for the purpose of destabilization. Recent cases in Europe have demonstrated how dangerous and consequential hybrid interference can be, and how important preventive measures and democratic resilience are. Russian interference in Romania’s presidential elections (2024), through propaganda, disinformation campaigns, and the misuse of digital platforms,…
Gjon Culaj, Associate Fellow at the “Octopus” Institute Caught between its energy dependence on Russia and growing Chinese investments, Serbia seeks to maintain a delicate geopolitical balance in an era of profound international realignments. For the European Union, this dual-track approach presents a fundamental dilemma: how can a state that continues to cultivate close ties with Eastern powers while simultaneously declaring its strategic orientation toward the European Union? Serbia’s case exposes the EU’s own strategic ambiguities and the lack of a coherent vision regarding the political and geopolitical boundaries of Europe. At the very heart of the continent, geopolitical ‘’grey…
Gjon Culaj, Associate Fellow at the “Octopus” Institute Security constitutes one of the fundamental concepts of international relations, especially in regions where the history of conflicts and the lack of trust among actors continue to shape political and security developments. The Western Balkans represent a characteristic example of such an environment, where security dynamics cannot be understood without analyzing the complex interaction between historical, political, and military factors. In this context, the increase of Serbia’s military capacities in recent years has sparked broad discussions regarding regional stability and its impact on interstate relations. Instrumentalization of the ‘security dilemma’ To understand…
Author: Dr. Iryna Synelnyk – External Collaborator of Institute Hailing from various Western countries and hailing from different age groups and nationalities, they have one thing in common: they all like Russia and her authority and admire the dictator Vladimir Putin. They publicly repeat Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine, the harmful impact on NATO, and Western values. Most of them also support Serbia in its hegemonic goals towards Kosovo, including their narrative warfare coordinations. Many public actors have studied or worked in Russia, visited the country many times and belong to the Valdai Discussion Club, which is the…
Gjon Culaj, Associate Fellow at the “Octopus” Institute Political and social polarization has become one of the most concerning and potentially destabilizing phenomena for the functioning of contemporary democracies (EPRS, 2025). From the perspective of contemporary security theories, social cohesion and political stability are considered essential elements of comprehensive security strategy, beyond the traditional concept of protection from external military threats. Barry Buzan, one of the most prominent theorists in security studies, in his book “People, States and Fear”, emphasizes that security should be understood as a multidimensional concept that includes not only the military dimension, but also the political,…
Today, 37 years ago, Slobodan Milošević had “formalized” the plan for the Serbianization of Kosovo. The suppression of autonomy on March 23, 1989 was preconditioned through “victimization” as a strategy of the Academy of Sciences (1986), in order to legitimize violence as a “defensive” instrument. The level of political autonomy guaranteed by the 1974 Constitution was the legal obstacle to Milošević’s mechanism: first, the narrative of “victimization” (Kosovo Polje, 1987) and its use to justify the suppression (The Guardian, 2019), so that extraordinary measures would encourage the emigration of Albanians (Human Rights Watch, 1990–1992) as a method for the gradual…
An investigation by the international investigative journalism network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has revealed how modern Russian influence operations in Europe are concealed. According to the investigation, the case began when the name Achim Detjen appeared as the author on a German-language portal called Anonymous News. Detjen is the name of the hero of the Stasi from the 1970s (the Soviet equivalent of James Bond), who fought Western plots in the East German television series “Das Unsichtbare Visier”. The article on this portal fabricated, without evidence, a connection between French President Emmanuel Macron and convicted sex offender…
Gjon Culaj, Associate Fellow at the “Octopus” Institute At a time of global uncertainty, when the world is facing successive crises such as Russian aggression in Ukraine, strategic rivalry with China, and instability in the Middle East, the Munich Security Conference (MSC-2026) presented a clear picture of the state and challenges of transatlantic relations. Where the discourse once revolved around unwavering unity between the United States and Europe, today the debate has shifted toward strategic balance, the consolidation of European autonomy, and the politico-military resilience of the Western alliance. In this context, relations between the United States and the European…
Author: Dr. Iryna Synelnyk – External Collaborator of Institute Abstract Russian hybrid warfare has fundamentally adapted to the digital era, with the deployment of AI-enabled tools for large-scale, global disinformation campaigns. This paper focuses on the mechanisms and long-term risks associated with the pro-Russian “Pravda” network, an ecosystem of hundreds of automated news aggregators. This network strategically uses automation and translation capabilities to systematically flood the global information space with Kremlin narratives, thereby discrediting Western countries and justifying aggression in Ukraine. Particular attention is being paid to the fact that the network includes hundreds of sites, some of them targeting…