How Russian propaganda manipulates Muslims in the Balkans?!

(Patria) - Russian propaganda embodied in Sputnik in Serbia, which is part of the large media system Russia Today (RT), led by 40-year-old Russian journalist Margarita Simonyan, has been very active in recent days.

There is no liturgy, prayer service, from Podgorica and Nišići, through Trebinje and Gračac to Istočno Sarajevo, that this editorial office (financed directly from Moscow) has not reported on, encouraging the "events of the people", similar to the events that preceded the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

With the aim, apparently, of media action and discrediting the Muslims of the Balkans, Sputnik conveyed the statement of Sheikh Imran Hosein, who presents himself as one of the "most respected Islamic theologians and philosophers".

The aforementioned person, known to the public as a denier of the Srebrenica genocide, called on "all Balkan Muslims to support Orthodox believers in Montenegro", writes Radiosarajevo.ba.

"If you are a Muslim: to stand shoulder to shoulder with your Orthodox Christian brothers, supporting them united and in solidarity against the corruption of the Montenegrin government, which is waging war against the Orthodox Church", Sputnik states, calling on Muslims to "follow the instructions from the Quran" and support their Orthodox brothers.

In his address, he "drew a clear line between Christians from the West and Orthodox Christians".

"These Christians (Orthodox) are not arrogant like those who rule from Washington and London and Paris...", pointing to the recent imperialistic attitude of so-called Western Christianity towards Venezuela and Bolivia, but also to the threats that, allegedly due to their actions, have "loomed" over Russia, China, Korea, and Iran.

This is not the first time Russia has tried to instrumentalize Muslims for its geopolitical interests.

Respected regional PR expert Krešimir Macan publicly warned back in 2017 that "the aforementioned agency (Sputnik) has exclusively an interest in disseminating half-truths or lies".

Sputnik continuously publishes articles opposing Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to NATO and any ties of this country, or at least a part of it, the BiH entity RS, with the European Union and the West.