{"id":895820,"date":"2026-03-31T08:14:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T13:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/no-random-actor-serbian-website-channels-kremlin-afd-talking-points\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:14:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T13:14:04","slug":"no-random-actor-serbian-website-channels-kremlin-afd-talking-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/no-random-actor-serbian-website-channels-kremlin-afd-talking-points\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No Random Actor\u2019: Serbian Website Channels Kremlin, AfD Talking Points"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2024, the website Eagle Eye Explore went live with its first article, published in Serbian and English. The English-language headline read: \u2018Why Serbia Needs Law About Agents of Foreign Interests?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

The question was rhetorical, the answer seemingly obvious. Serbia was in need of such a law, the author, Ratko Nikolic, argued, in order to thwart the \u201cneo-colonial\u201d policies of the West and allow the \u201cre-sovereigntisation\u201d of the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two years earlier, Russia had significantly expanded the scope of its own \u2018foreign agents\u2019 law, originally adopted in 2012, to the degree that, according to Human Rights Watch, \u201calmost any person or entity, regardless of nationality or location, who engages in civic activism or even expresses opinions about Russian policies or officials\u2019 conduct could be designated a foreign agent, so long as the authorities claim they are under \u2018foreign influence\u2019\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has used the law to target journalists, activists and critics of the Kremlin and, in particular, its war in Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Eagle Eye Explore did not stop there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since its first article, the website has published hundreds more parroting disinformation and Kremlin talking points and extolling the far-right, in particular the German party Alternative for Germany, AfD, all while flouting Serbian law requiring media outlets to name their publishers and editors.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the results of a BIRN open-source investigation, the site bears all the hallmarks of a Kremlin-backed propaganda channel, from hidden ownership and cryptocurrency donation options, to its collaboration with journalists employed by Russian media and the AfD itself, as well as its promotion via pro-Russian Telegram channels and Russian state-affiliated media.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe pattern you identified represents a characteristic signature of Kremlin-backed media ecosystems that has been extensively documented,\u201d said Ruslan Trad, a fellow at DFRLab, the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, a US NGO.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a 2025 study published by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and called <\/span>Russia Paving the Way for Autocracies<\/span><\/i><\/a>, researchers identified Serbia as a central hub for the spread of Russian influence in the Balkan region via Kremlin-financed Sputnik and the Balkan arm of Russia Today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sputnik and Russia Today have both been <\/span>banned<\/span><\/a> in the European Union, which Serbia wants to join, since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2023, the EU\u2019s executive arm, the European Commission, <\/span>warned<\/span><\/a> of Moscow\u2019s influence on media in the Balkans, saying Kremlin propaganda was \u201cparticularly effective in Serbia, where part of the local media and some mainstream political forces disseminate pro-Russian narratives, including throughout the Western Balkan region\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imprint missing<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Natasa Jovanovic, who spoke on two occasions to Bulgarian media as \u2018editor-in-chief\u2019 of Eagle Eye Explore. Photo: Efir.info\/Printscreen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Eagle Eye Explore does not contain an imprint, sometimes known as a legal notice or impressum, that would normally name the publisher, editor-in-chief and other editorial staff and provide contact details, despite this being required under Serbian law for all media outlets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither is the site registered in Serbia\u2019s national media registry, which would otherwise provide insight into its ownership and finances.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ana Martinoli, media theorist, producer, and professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, said an imprint is \u201ca key instrument of media transparency and accountability\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows the audience to assess the credibility and possible interests \u2013 most often political or financial \u2013 behind the content.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not merely a formality, but identifies who makes editorial decisions and who the publisher is \u2013 which is important both for self-regulation (ethics) and for legal protection (e.g., the right of reply\/correction, protection of personal rights, establishing responsibility),\u201d Martinoli told BIRN by email.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Serbia, media publishers who fail to include an imprint or whose imprint is false or lacks the required information can be fined between 100,000 and a million dinars, or between roughly 850 and 8,500 euros.<\/span><\/p>\n

On several occasions, a journalist called Natasa Jovanovic has spoken publicly as \u2018editor-in-chief\u2019 of Eagle Eye Explore. Jovanovic is a journalist for Sputnik, RT Balkan and the pro-Russian Serbian newspapers Pecat and Vecernje Novosti; her byline appears on 14 texts on Eagle Eye Explore, but when contacted by BIRN she did not answer whether she is indeed the editor-in-chief.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI expected journalistic questions, but instead received ones that only security forces and a prosecutor have the right to ask, and even they would have to act within the framework of Serbia\u2019s current media legislation,\u201d Jovanovic said in an emailed response.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several months after the site\u2019s launch, Jovanovic and two others whose work has appeared on Eagle Eye Explore, attended a \u2018media school\u2019 event in Belgrade organised at the Russian House with the support of the Russian foreign ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRussians are our brothers,\u201d Jovanovic said at the event, according to the Telegram channel of Russian House. \u201cWhen I say \u2018brothers\u2019, I do not mean the word in the usual sense. We are together; we share the same history, as well as spiritual and political ties. It is very important that Serbia is on the right side of history and that it is always with the Russians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

BIRN was unable to track down the author of the site\u2019s first ever article, Ratko Nikolic, whose byline has not appeared since.<\/span><\/p>\n

AfD bylines and interviewees<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Anton Friesen of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has penned one article for Eagle Eye Explore. Photo: Hayoung Jeon\/EPA<\/span><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Eagle Eye Explore domain is registered with Toronto-based Tucows, one of the world\u2019s largest accredited domain registrars; Tucows offers an identity protection service that ensures all information about the domain owner \u2013 name, address, and email \u2013 is replaced with generic data, effectively ensuring anonymity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The practice is legal, and Tucows told BIRN that any information about who registered the domain can only be disclosed on the basis of an official order from the competent authorities of Canada, Denmark, Germany, or the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tard, of DFRLab, said it showed Eagle Eye Explore had gone to significant lengths to conceal its origins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe operational security profile of Eagle Eye Explore indicates sophisticated intent beyond mere legal evasion,\u201d he told BIRN.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis configuration represents a deliberately constructed anonymisation architecture designed to prevent attribution, avoid sanctions compliance, and enable deniability while maintaining operational continuity. This specific combination is the hallmark signature of Kremlin-backed influence networks documented extensively by DFRLab and other researchers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The option of donations in cryptocurrency also \u201cmirrors patterns identified in Russian influence operations\u201d, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eagle Eye Explore has roughly 40 contributors, and features mainly op-eds as well as interviews with far-right figures from countries including Germany, Hungary, France, Italy, Romania, Georgia, and Moldova. These interviews have appeared in paid ads online and, according to data from Facebook Ads Library, were promoted among target audiences in Hungary, Germany, and Italy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Roughly a quarter of the published interviews are with AfD politicians, including Bjorn Hocke, head of the party\u2019s branch in the central German state of Thuringia and described by <\/span>Der Spiegel<\/span><\/i> as the \u201creal boss\u201d of the AfD. A former history teacher, in 2024 Hocke was convicted by a German court of knowingly using a Nazi slogan \u2013 \u2018Everything for Germany\u2019 \u2013 during a 2021 rally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the bylines on the site can be found the names of AfD politicians Artur Abramovic and Anton Friesen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Data from the website\u2019s content management system (CMS) \u2013 the software used to create, manage, modify and publish digital content and whose metadata is publicly available \u2013 show that administrator access accounts were opened in the names of both men, but BIRN was unable to determine whether the log-in credentials were ever used or sent to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Abramovic and Friesen denied ever having access credentials for the site. Abramovic said he originally penned the article for the German newspaper Junge Freiheit, and that it was later translated by an acquaintance into Serbian.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2018m not even fluent in your language, why would anyone give me such access?\u201d he said in a response to BIRN, written in English. \u201cBut most important, I do not and have never cooperate with Russian state organisations, officials nor media. I cooperate only with the Russian opposition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Abramovic stressed he has been \u201ccriticising the Russian government for years and wrote several articles against it, even demanding a NATO bombing of critical infrastructure in Moscow and Saint Petersburg\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He said he did not receive an author\u2019s fee from Eagle Eye Explore and has no idea who runs it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2018m a philologist and historian by training and have no clue about websites nor IT,\u201d Abramovic told BIRN. \u201cAnd I never got any login data or anything similar from those people I don\u2018t even know.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, Friesen told BIRN he does not work \u201cwith Russian actors\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not planning to publish another article in Serbian media, and I have no access to administrative resources,\u201d he wrote in English.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked who first contacted him regarding Eagle Eye Explore, Friesen replied: \u201cNobody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Ideological solidarity\u2019<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Ruslan Trad, a fellow at DFRLab, the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, a US NGO, says Eagle Eye Explore has the \u201ccharacteristic signature of Kremlin-backed media ecosystems\u201d. Photo courtesy of Ruslan Trad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The AfD is Germany\u2019s second largest party in nationwide polling and its largest opposition party.<\/p>\n

In May 2025, it was designated by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, BfV \u2013 Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence agency \u2013 as \u201ccertified right-wing extremist\u201d, but at the end of last month, a court in Cologne issued an injunction on the use of the term pending a final ruling on a challenge lodged by the AfD.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s political opponents regularly accuse it of working in the interests of Putin\u2019s Russia, a charge the AfD denies.<\/p>\n

Trad said that Eagle Eye Explore\u2019s \u201cstrategy\u201d of featuring exclusive interviews with AfD leaders and European far-right representatives, alongside Serbian national themes, \u201crepresents a deliberate implementation of what researchers identify as strategic narrative convergence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe content mix isn\u2019t random,\u201d he said, speaking in English. \u201cIt\u2019s architected to build ideological solidarity between regional and European forces that advance Russian geopolitical interests\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy platforming AfD and similar parties, Eagle Eye Explore positions itself as a node in a transnational illiberal network, where Serbian nationalism is framed not as isolated particularism but as part of a broader \u2018resistance\u2019 against Western hegemony.\u201d<\/p>\n

By publishing in both Serbian and English, the site targets audiences in Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, while simultaneously positioning itself as a \u2018Balkan source\u2019 for international, pro-Russian, anti-establishment networks.<\/p>\n

Dissemination via Serbian media<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Eagle Eye Explore is far from alone in Serbia in borrowing from the Kremlin\u2019s geopolitical talking points.<\/p>\n

Besides Sputnik and RT Balkans, whose content is regularly picked up by Serbian media including the major dailies Politika and Vecernje Novosti and tabloids such as Alo and Informer, there is also a host of smaller, pro-Russian media outlets such as Vaseljenska, Novi Vesnik, Novi Standard, Odbrana i bezbednost, Pokret za odbranu Kosova i Metohije, Poredak and Srpski Ugao.<\/p>\n

Eagle Eye Explore has profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Twitter, totalling some 18,000 followers; the website also has a channel on Telegram with 1,634 members.<\/p>\n

Links from the Telegram channel are regularly reposted by other pro-Russian media, including one of the most influential Russian military channels, Rybar (\u0420\u044b\u0431\u0430\u0440\u044c) and DD Geopolitics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amplification of such channels is profoundly revealing,\u201d said Trad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not random actors \u2013 they represent confirmed nodes in Russian state-affiliated influence operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen these specific Telegram channels amplify a \u2018small\u2019 Serbian portal, it indicates the portal is integrated into centrally-coordinated Russian influence infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eagle Eye Explore content has been picked up by Informer and Alo, the public broadcaster of Bosnia\u2019s predominantly Serb-populated Republika Srpska entity, and Montenegrin website IN4S.<\/p>\n

In November 2019, at a media literacy event, a diplomat from the US embassy in Podgorica, said IN4S was under the influence of the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

Eagle Eye Explore articles have also appeared in Russian media, including state daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and the site has been promoted by Pravda, a network of sites identified in 2024 by Viginum, a French state agency that tracks foreign disinformation campaigns, as part of a major campaign to spread Kremlin-sourced \u201cinaccurate or misleading narratives\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trad told BIRN: \u201cKremlin-backed propaganda sites operate through several recognisable features.\u201d<\/p>\n

Content is published in local media outlets and picked up across multiple media platforms and social networks, in multiple languages, to create \u201cthe illusion of independent local journalism while disseminating centrally coordinated narratives\u201d.<\/p>\n

The engagement of journalists who write for Russian media such as Sputnik and Russia Today is also a pattern that has been seen before, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDual roles between Russian state media [RT and Sputnik] and supposedly independent local portals play a key strategic role,\u201d Trad told BIRN. \u201cThey enable direct editorial guidance and coordination of narratives from Russian state media to local platforms while maintaining plausible deniability of formal links between them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal? \u201cTo undermine Western cohesion and integration into NATO and the EU, promote Euroscepticism, destabilise pro-Western governments, and create political bases favourable to Russia,\u201d said Trad. \u201cIn targeted states, the objective is also to shape future political elites who will normalise pro-Russian narratives and promote Moscow\u2019s strategic interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

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How BIRN traced Eagle Eye Explore\u2019s digital fingerprints<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To collect and verify technical data about the domain, servers, and functioning of the Eagle Eye Explore website, BIRN used the tools DNSlytics, urlscan.io, and DomainTools WHOIS.<\/p>\n

To identify the administrator of the Eagle Eye Explore Facebook page, based on a publicly visible phone number, BIRN used the tools osint.industries and whatsapp.checkleaked.cc, along with the Facebook Ads Library.<\/p>\n

Information about participants in the media school held at the Russian House in Belgrade was obtained through analysis of publicly available photographs, using the PimEyes tool to search for visually similar faces as well as by analysing content published on Telegram channels and other open digital traces.<\/p>\n

The tools TGCollector and TGStat were used to search Telegram channels and obtain basic information about the participants.<\/p>\n

To check the crypto wallet for donations listed on the Eagle Eye Explore website, BIRN used the blockchain.com platform.<\/p>\n

The structure of the Content Management System, CMS, and indicators of backend access were identified by analysing publicly available WordPress metadata using the WPInt script, which allows the mapping of user records and technical elements of the platform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Milos Katic
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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