Your wind is black and white is the night, and every vein is swollen and ripe. In this avenue of bodies, stand straight as a sword before you collapse, blinded by white.
But the dance even then will continue as ever, with the same mystery, with the same innocence. And when those grasses cover you in darkness, the blaze of your thirst will burn them away.
I decided to keep silent. Not to “piffle.” Not to ruffle feathers. To close myself at home, to lock the door, to turn off the lights and not to talk to anyone. To prevent myself from saying something wrong, otherwise they might drag me by the ears from my home.
I decided not to disturb the public with our reporting. To refrain from transmitting emotions. To not make noise. To not make photographs. To not record videos. To avoid “emotionally charged narratives.” To transmit only the official announcements by the authorities. Because the government knows best what ethical journalism is.
I also decided not to ask questions. Why ask questions, why show interest. All the questions have been answered. No need to think. There’s someone assigned to do the thinking for us.
I also decided to not read too much news, to prevent harming my mental health. Especially by some so called media outlets which are not media outlets, and by journalists which are not journalists. No need to stop watching TV now, because I’ve done that a long time ago.
I decided not to call for citizen gatherings against the system, because the system already declared that it fights against the system. The corrupt system. Successfully. If someone else calls for a rally, I should not go. In order to avoid to create crowding, as the police is more needed elsewhere.
I decided to bury in deep silence that “thing unspoken that I carry,” a thing that weighs on me and pains me, and wait for “the silence itself will say it.” I await resignations in silence.
Subtle pressure for all-encompassing self censorship
The use of irony in this text is not a sign of disrespect of the families of the victims and injured in the tragedy in the improvised discotheque Club Pulse in Kočani. On the contrary, the goal is to point out to uninhibited attempts for censorship by the government against the independent and critical media, at the attempts to take control of the narrative and to divert public attention.
Since March 17, 2025 Macedonian authorities showed their true authoritarian and censorious face. Especially on the day of the funeral. The government, the regulatory bodies, the associations bombarded the media with announcements trying to prevent publishing anything that might be disliked by the political parties in power. Under the guise of defending professional conduct, hidden among well known standards, that are followed by any professional media anyway, the government educated the journalists what they should and what they shouldn’t photograph, what kind of video recordings they should or shouldn’t make, what kind of headlines to put, whether to have emotions or just copy their stark announcements and speeches. Under the guise of countering disinformation, an obstacle to information was erected. In effect we got the result akin to those used by authoritarian regimes attempting to suppress freedom of speech.
This led to situation of extremely high level of self-censorship among the Macedonian media. You would be hard pressed to find reporting on the lives of the victims, about their families, relatives, no stories of the common people, about the loss, about the successes, about the hopes and potentials, about their influence on their communities in most Macedonian media. You will not see the sorrow or hear the wailing. Because, you know, that would be too emotional.
Journalism has rules on how to interview families of victims of huge tragedies and the experienced journalists know these rules. They treat them with dignity and respect, with sensitivity and knowledge what kind of questions are appropriate, and also when to back down. Professional photojournalists also have their own special approach, which is also unobtrusive and respectful. However, the fact remains that it is extremely important to document such tragedies, to create public record that would remain in media archives, to leave a trace written in the collective memory.
Unconcealed attempt to control the students
A Meta.mk journalist suffered a brutal attack on social media spreading vicious defamatory accusation that he is organizer of student gatherings. His photograph was posted in tens of Facebook and Twitter posts alongside calls for his arrest or physical assault on him. The case was reported to authorities, which have not reacted in any way [so far].
The assault campaign took place because of publishing of social media recording of the government Minister of Education and Science Vesna Janevska and her speech in front of the students on the campus of University Sts. Cyril and Methodius (UKIM), when they booed her. Several thousands of university students and high school pupils gathered to pay respect to the victims of Kočani tragedy on March 17. However, instead of student gathering, the event turned into a badly managed PR event which spun out of control.
Only one TV station and just several online media outlets published the news that the students booed the minister. Meanwhile, the reactions on social media were a different story. The video clip was published on social media and soon become viral. That evening a network of political party trolls (called “bots” in the Balkans) activated and started a witch-hunt via anonymous profiles and groups.
Four days later, when the minister finally appeared in public again, not one journalist, not one media outlet asked her how come she appeared at the podium together with the Rector to hold speeches at a student gathering, instead of the students. Nobody asked her if she would submit her resignation due to disrespect shown to the students at the moment of their grief for their deceased colleagues, for the tens of young people who lost their lives and the hundreds of injured who still struggle to survive in the foreign hospitals.
In her speech, the minister said many things, and also recited the lyrics from the poem “In Silence” by Aco Šopov. Yes, it is true that silence can sometimes can be louder than words in pointing the truth. But when the government is calling upon the students to keep silent, one can suspect that this is about singing a completely different kind of song.
The ministers’ speechwriter could have chosen some other poem by Šopov, something more appropriate for a student gathering about the biggest tragedy that has struck the youth of this country. “The last prayer for my body” from the poetry collection Not-Being from 1963 would have sounded more realistic on the UKIM plateau that day. But not with the voice of the minister, but with the voices of the students.
Several hundred citizens participated in today’s protest march for Frosina Kulakova, who about three weeks ago was tragically run over on a pedestrian crossing at the Boulevard PartizanskiOdrediopposite the Universal Hall in Skopje. The march, led by Frosina’s family and organized by the “Who’s Next?” initiative, began here today.
The protest was again led by Frosina Kulakova’s family, as it was two weeks ago, but there were also relatives of others who had passed away in traffic accidents. | Photo: Meta.mk, 16.02.2025
Protesters in the front row held up two banners, which they carried throughout the evening. In red letters on a black background, the banners read “We are the voice of Frosina” and “Dirty money–deadly consequences”.
From the accident scene, the participants proceeded to the government building, passing by without stopping. They then made their way to the legislative body, the National Assembly.
This protest march following Forsina Kulakova’s death on the 29th of January 2025, is the third of its kind in Skopje. The last one was held two weeks ago, with around 5,000 citizens taking part in the protest. | Photo: Meta.mk 16.02.2025
Protesters were chanting “Justice for Frosina,” “Justice for Viktorija,” “Justice for Teodora,” shouting the names of young victims of traffic accidents in recent years.
The demonstrators passed by the government building, without stopping, making their way directly to the Assembly where a three-minute moment of silence was held for young Frosina, with everyone present turning on the lights of their mobile phones to create a “sky full of stars.”
A three-minute moment of silence was held in front of the Assembly where the protesters turned on the lights of their mobile phones| Photo: Meta.mk, 16.02.2025
From there, the procession headed to the Appellate Court Skopje, where several speeches by the protest organizers were delivered. Twenty-three-year-old Anastasia Pavlovska emphasized that “behind this movement is not a political party, but young people who are tired of living in a country where no one respects them and where they are deliberately killed.”
Several speeches by the protest organizers were delivered in front of the Appellate Court Skopje | Photo: Meta.mk, 16.02.2025
She asked “how many more lives must be lost in this system before we collectively say ‘enough’.”
“enough of the police protecting the rich and powerful, enough of doctors demanding bribes to treat us, enough of the judiciary selecitvely reviewing evidence, enough of education that kills critical thinking among people in order to control us” said anastasija in front of the appellate court.
Then she asked again, “Who would still accept to live in a system like this, a system we all pay out of our own pocket to destroy us, a system that from the moment we are born, works to enslave us, mentally, spiritually, culturally, physically?”
According to Anastasija Pavlovska, young people not only struggle to make progress here, but also to survive. She urged everyone present to ask themselves how many times they’ve crossed the road when the light was red and how many times they have stood in front of a pedestrian crossing.
„Each of us must be aware of our own actions and then demand responsibility from the institutions we pay. What we are asking for from these institutions is not science fiction. It is in their work description and census. Deep and fundamental changes of this corrupt system are NEEDED,” SAID ANASTASIJA.
At the end, she addressed the institutions: “We will not give up until we see real changes in the system.”
Among the banners carried by those attending the march were several demanding justice for the 2019 Laskarci village accident, which claimed 16 lives. In connection with this case, the bus driver was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while the owner of Durmo Tours received a 4-year sentence. Just a few days ago, it marked the sixth anniversary of the tragedy. | Photo: Meta.mk 16.02.2025
Frosina lost her life on the night of January 29, 2025, fifteen minutes before midnight when Vasil Jovanov, under the influence of alcohol, driving fast and passing a red light hit her directly, killing her on the spot.
At the time of the accident, Vasil had already been convicted of drug trafficking, but instead of a prison sentence, he received six months in a penal institution as a juvenile. The public prosecutor appealed the decision to the Appellate Court. After the tragic accident and after the big protest two weeks ago in Skopje, the court decided to accept the appeal and sentenced Jovanov to three years and nine months in prison.
Jovanov is yet to stand trial for the case in which Frosina lost her life. Her family directs all their anger at the justice system, specifically the judiciary and the prosecution.
Disinformation and psychological interference, cyber-attacks, emerging disruptive technologies, sabotage, election interference, economic interference, instrumentalization of migration – these are just part of the issues the Hybrid Center of Excellence at countering hybrid threats is dealing with. The Head of International relations at the Hybrid CoE, Tapio Pyysalo talks about the scope of their work, the vulnerabilities of the Western Balkan countries connected with inter-ethnic tensions, the whole-of-society approach that the governments should take and the importance of the cooperation between all EU and NATO members in tackling the challenges ahead. According to their analysis, what Russia really wants is to maintain its sphere of influence in the Western Balkans region and the EU integration of the countries would undermine that overall Russian objective.
Pyysalo points out that one of the main concerns of the center recently is the use of generative AI in spreading disinformation and how it can actually be used to counter it. Additionally, he talks about the Finnish experience in successfully dealing with Foreign information manipulation and interference. Recently Mr. Pyysalo visited North Macedonia where he had several discussions with representatives of the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the civil society and the media. He claims that the new government in Skopje is very serious in their intent to deal with the hybrid threats and implement a whole-of-society approach.
Since you are coming from Finland, and Finland is considered one of the most resilient countries to disinformation, maybe you can explain in short how do you do it. Is there a magic formula that can be shared and reused?
– Well, thank you so much. It’s a very good question, but first let me emphasize that although I’m Finn, I’m basically here as a representative of the Center of excellence at countering hybrid threats which is an international organization covering 36 countries in Europe and America.
But of course, I’ll be happy to say a few words about my finish experience as well. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a magic formula. It’s really a complex background for everything that builds resilience against disinformation. But, I will be happy to raise a few points and maybe some of those best practice that might be useful for other countries as well.
I want to raise four main points and those are basically media literacy, freedom and diversity of the media environment, then the language and finally trust within the society. And first of all, on that media literacy which is really sort of a celebrated element of the Finnish resilience.
It really is a decade’s long history of media education in the country and that’s why it might be a bit difficult to replicate. It’s not only taught in the schools but also the civil society is engaging in part in media education of the youth and it’s very difficult to copy or build overnight. At least in the long term some of those elements could of course be brought to other countries as well.
I understand that North Macedonia is building some media education for schools for example and that’s a great first step and it will take a long time but it’s really important to start building it early.
I want to raise a point on the on the free and diverse media environment. Finland has a very strong freedom of press protected actually by a self-regulation body. I hear you have a similar here in North Macedonia. Although the media is being slightly consolidated, at the same time, it has not really been politically biased and that is an important part. Finland also has its national public media called Finnish Broadcasting Company modeled on the BBC’s example. It actually has quite a big role in a trustworthy media and is considered very objective in the society.
I think that is one key element. I also think that Finland is, at least to some extent, being protected by the language. Finnish is part of a very small feno-hungarian language family that has only about 20 million speakers, so it’s very small and it has very complex grammar. I think that at least so far it has been very difficult for machines to create fluent translations into Finnish, which is making it very difficult for foreign actors to represent Finnish language in the media and social media. That has maybe been a barrier to disinformation in Finland as well.
Finally, the high level of trust among the population is really important. Up to 50% of Fins trust their government, even 85% actually trust the national media, the Finish Broadcasting Company, so it’s a very high level of trust in the society and that trust also helps tackle some of these disinformation narratives.
I think a good example of this is that when the Baltic connector, the pipeline was disrupted in the Baltic Sea close to Finland. The government gave a press briefing and it immediately cut all the wings off the rumors and disinformation because everybody trusts the government enough to believe that narrative.
This probably is one of the most difficult things to copy. Building that trust in the society is probably a very important element of countering disinformation. But, I do have to say I’m also slightly concerned that even the Finish resilience might be more and more challenged especially by the development of artificial intelligence and all these sophisticated language models.
Many of them coming up in Finnish as well and the sort of exponential dominance of artificially created information in the media and information space. This will definitely require more effective monitoring of the media environment, better counter measures against disinformation and maybe also more efficient utilization of artificial intelligence for countering disinformation and identifying facts behind the lies.
It’s something that has continued to develop throughout the years, it hasn’t stopped and waited for us to react let’s say in a way?
– I think it definitely has developed quite a bit. One evidence of this was that during the European elections this year. Russia was spreading up to 40 million reactions to different kinds of narratives in the media space, that really gives a good picture of the extent of the challenge, and many of those are certainly created by artificial intelligence.
Tapio Pyysalo, Head of International Relations at Hybrid CoE | Photo: Meta.mk
Remaining below the threshold of war
As you mentioned you are the head of international relations at the Hybrid center of excellence, it’s an international network of 36 countries including all NATO member states and all EU member states and what they do is pursue this whole of society approach towards countering hybrid threats. Can you explain what has been the focus of your work recently and why is this important? What kind of threats are we talking about?
– Indeed, we are really happy for reaching that milestone of universal participation by all EU members all NATO members. I want to emphasize that there are many NATO centers of excellence but the Hybrid CoE is unique in bringing the EU and NATO together. That’s actually one of the main objectives of our work: putting the EU and NATO to work together against hybrid threats and our main aim in our work is to strengthen the capacities of our participating states for countering hybrid threats.
What we mean by hybrid threats is basically fourfold strategic actions by hostile state or non-state actors sometimes non-state actors that are working on behalf of state actors as proxies.
We see that hybrid threats are systematically targeting vulnerabilities in our societies. They’re using a wide range of different synchronized means like avoiding identification and attribution and remaining below the threshold of war. Basically, our work is not only about the whole-of-society approach or the comprehensive model of security, but it definitely is one of the good practices and it applies to many different domains and many different ways of countering hybrid threats.
The point is that unlike military threats, hybrid threats challenge many parts of our societies and therefore identifying those hybrid threats and especially countering them requires a whole-of-society approach across the government also involving the civil society, involving the private sector and so on. Some of the threats that we are focused on include disinformation and psychological interference, cyber-attacks, emerging disruptive technologies, sabotage both in the physical domain but also in the cyber domain, election interference, economic interference, instrumentalization of migration, etc.
It is actually a very broad list of different kinds of threats and we are looking specifically at some of the main hybrid threat actors, looking at hybrid threats in different regions including the Western Balkans and so on. There really are many different scopes.
Photo: Meta.mk
Wreaking havoc in societies
About two years ago here in North Macedonia dozens of schools, most of them in the capital of Skopje, received on their email addresses these false bomb threats. This was ongoing for about six months, there were hundreds of false threats and the schools had to be evacuated very frequently, the parents were scared, the whole society was on alert because of this. And the media used this as a driver for government criticism and lowering the trust in the state institutions. Additionally, about the same time, in February 2023 the Macedonian Health Insurance Fund was hacked through a ransomware attack putting in jeopardy the data of every citizen, his health data basically. Could you say that these two examples are part of the hybrid threats that you’re working to prevent?
– This sounds like a very concrete example of hybrid threats and I’m really happy you brought it up. Because it really gives the local context to what we’re talking about here. What really makes it a hybrid threat in my point of view is that it seems to be a strategic attack by a foreign actor targeting societal vulnerabilities and those are some of the sort of main attributes of hybrid threats in our point of view.
It really also shows how much havoc some of these hybrid threats can wreak in a society disrupting in this case education, scaring the population, dividing public opinion and also undermining trust in the government which we just discussed.
It’s a really important factor in countering some of these threats and it’s probably no coincidence that these events happened soon after North Macedonia closed its airspace to Russia’s foreign minister and sent lethal military aid to Ukraine. These events might incur such hybrid threats and we do say that undermining support to Ukraine really seems to be one of Russia’s immediate goals and objectives in its use of hybrid threats. These are exactly the kinds of threats that we are supporting our participating states to counter. And, while North Macedonia was not yet participating state of the Hybrid Coe at the time, I understood that NATO offered its support in that case.
This actually is also a really important element of countering hybrid threats. International cooperation, cooperation among allies is crucial when countering hybrid threats. That’s a great symbol of NATO coming together in your support.
North Macedonia is a member of the Hybrid Center of Excellence for about one year if I’m not mistaken, but it seems like even before that not many steps were taken in regards of countering foreign information manipulation and interference at least not publicly. Where do you see the role of small countries such as North Macedonia in this global effort?
– Indeed, like you mentioned North Macedonia joined Hybrid CoE in October ’23 so we’ve been working closely together ever since for about a year now. I think countering foreign information manipulation and interference is a challenge to most of our participating states with the quick development of AI tools. For example, the stream of disinformation is exponentially increasing if I can say so, there are some very good practices on how to counter disinformation but it also takes a lot of time and money. It really takes a lot of resources and I know that many countries are ramping up their capabilities for monitoring their media environment, monitoring their information spaces in some cases including using some of those AI tools to map the media environment, to better identify the threats and the disinformation narratives in the information space.
I think cooperation with social media companies is also really important because they control such large parts of the media space and they have a responsibility to counter disinformation too. They should also have their internal policies in place, they should cooperate with government in identifying disinformation and counter that disinformation for example by closing accounts.
In the case of North Macedonia, we have had lot of discussions with the current, the new government, they do seem to take the threat very seriously, and they are building up defenses against disinformation and foreign interference, information manipulation.
I think they do seem to have a good concept of the threat and they do seem to be working a lot in order to counter it.
Tapio Pyysalo, Head of International Relations at Hybrid CoE | Photo: Meta.mk
Whole-of-society approach in North Macedonia
It seems that the civil society here in North Macedonia has been most active in terms of countering disinformation. We as Metamorphosis Foundation we have proposed to the previous government a similar whole of society approach in countering disinformation. It included various recommendations for different stakeholders that are involved and they accepted the proposal formally but nothing much else has happened around it. It’s really strange because Finland is the first on the Global media literacy index and North Macedonia is the last country on that index.
– It’s a good question but indeed, like I mentioned, it seems that they do have a strong approach on countering disinformation, they do seem to have a strong interest in applying the whole-of-society approach to countering disinformation and I think this is work that will very soon begin.
I see that civil society organizations have a really important role in the society in initiating public debate, bringing up issues, taking them to the government and raising awareness on issues like in this case, countering disinformation but I also feel like the initiative in the end has to come from the government itself.
Because building up this whole of society approach, it does take a lot of cooperation and coordination involving the civil society organizations, finding the right ways for them to be represented for example in this coordination and also in some cases, for example, security certificates to be able to access information.
It is a lot of work and I think the government has to have the lead in that work but I do feel like initiatives like yours are really useful for the government to give them at least an idea of what the civil society expects of them and how the civil society would like to engage.
In a report that we are about to publish these days, we conclude that there is an ongoing effort to disturb the inter-ethnic relations in the country through foreign influence. Could you explain why certain topics are more prone to be misused by foreign malign actors than others. What is the goal of these efforts?
– Well, this really goes back to what we discussed about how we see hybrid threats and how we define them. One of the elements in hybrid threats is typically intentionally targeting vulnerabilities in societies. In the case of North Macedonia and in the wider Western Balkans region these inter-ethnic tensions are certainly one of the key vulnerabilities that can be abused by foreign actors.
While in the case of North Macedonia the Ohrid Framework Agreement has been very robust, of course another one of those key vulnerabilities is the EU integration process that is targeted by different kinds of anti-western narratives across the region and creates a vulnerability in the society that can be abused by some foreign actors.
I feel that the reason why hybrid threat actors are attacking these topics is that they’re easy targets for stoking disagreement in the society, dividing the public opinion and really sort of undermining national unity. It serves all the purposes of hybrid threat actors including, like I mentioned, challenging decision making, diminishing support to Ukraine, diminishing support for the EU integration process and these are all targets for hybrid actors.
In our analysis, what Russia really wants is to maintain its sphere of influence in the Western Balkans region and of course, EU integration would undermine that sort of overall objective of Russia. This is one reason why we feel that we should do our best to raise awareness of hybrid threats and their objectives among the wider public as well, so that people would be aware of the threat and be responsive to react to some of these disinformation narratives.
We feel that responding to these threats, it really requires broad awareness in the public, it requires national unity that is very strong, it requires strong resilience in the society, it requires support to the government for actions against some of these threats but also good coordination and cooperation. Your initiative is a good example of that and strong international partnerships, strong alliances and these are certainly some of the topics that we are trying to support our participating states’ governments to tackle and to build resilience with.
Based on the information gathered and the analyses conducted thus far, the CRTA Election Observation Mission expresses a well-founded suspicion that in the elections on December 17, organized voter migrations occurred to an extent that crucially influenced the outcome of the very close elections for the Belgrade City Assembly – this is the main conclusion of the report presented by CRTA at a press conference today, which has been compiled based on material collected before, during, and after the Election Day.
Organized voter migrations represent a form of electoral engineering that is neither legal nor legitimate. By registering fictitious residences for the purpose of voting in local elections outside one’s own city or municipality, laws regulating citizens’ residencies are violated, thus endangering the principles of electoral equality and the guaranteed right of citizens to choose their local self-government.
In relation to the scope and prevalence of manipulations with the voter register, even before the elections, CRTA received information from various sources indicating illegal actions by local government bodies and the highest state authorities aimed at shaping the election results in Belgrade in favor of the ruling party.
Crucial evidence was gathered during the Election Day by CRTA observers who made numerous photo and video recordings of organized transportation of voters from other cities in Serbia and abroad to Belgrade. Multiple points serving as logistical centers of the operation were recorded, from where voters were directed and transported to polling stations in various parts of the capital. CRTA observers identified instances of organized transportation of voters, supervised voting, possible identity manipulation of voters in 71 polling stations, or 14 percent of polling stations in Belgrade, notably in Čukarica (10), Novi Beograd (9), Vračar (7), Voždovac (7), and Zemun (7).
It was noted that voters were organized to arrive from various parts of Serbia (e.g., from Pančevo, Valjevo, Čačak, Aranđelovac, Smederevo, Vršac, Novi Sad, etc.), as well as from Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, intensifying suspicion that local elections were strategically scheduled in only a third of local self-governments to enable temporary voter migrations.
Additional analyses conducted after the Election Day used and cross-referenced quantitative data from publicly available electronic versions of the voter register on the website of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government (names and surnames of voters by polling stations) and the voting results. Significant alterations in the voter register over a one-year period were identified. Polling stations in Belgrade, with a high probability of being destinations for organized voter migrations, where the number of votes for the ruling party significantly increased compared to previous elections, were identified.
Certain political actors indirectly confirmed the findings of these analyses – several politicians and high officials from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina explicitly confirmed the implementation of the mentioned practices, attempting to justify and present them as legal and legitimate.
CRTA has made a series of recommendations to prevent unacceptable practices that marked the elections in Belgrade. In the short term, it is essential for the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government to make the voter register entirely public, along with reasonable and feasible measures to protect voters’ personal data. Additionally, prosecutors must investigate all well-founded suspicions of criminal acts related to the elections.
In the medium term, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government should conduct an independent audit of the Unified voter register in line with the OSCE/ODIHR Mission’s recommendations. The National Assembly should enact changes to the election laws to prevent organized voter migrations.
North Macedonia obtained a loan from the Exim Bank of China for the construction of the highways Kičevo – Ohrid, and Miladinovci – Štip, and now we are repaying the loan installments expensively due to the record strengthening of the US dollar against the Macedonian denar. In the meantime, after more than eight years and six months since the beginning of the construction works, the highway Kičevo-Ohrid has not been completed and put into use. However, the Chinese state-owned company Sinohydro, after being selected as the contractor for the two highways, decided to become a competitor in the Macedonian construction sector and has so far received two new projects – the construction of the second phase of the expressway Štip-Kočani and the completion of the first phase of the expressway Gradsko- Prilep.
False promises about the deadline for the construction of the highway Kičevo – Ohrid
The construction of the 57-kilometer highway Kičevo-Ohrid began in February 2014 and so far there have been two breaches of the deadlines for its completion. The politicians’ false promises regarding the date of commissioning began with the government of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, which promised to finish the highway within four years, and the Chinese company Sinohydro was hired for its construction. The initial deadline in the spring of 2018 was postponed with an annex to the contract which envisioned a new end date – June 30, 2021, but this deadline was also breached.
After eight and a half years spent in construction at a variable pace, the Public Enterprise for State Roads of the Republic of North Macedonia informs Meta.mk that the fifth annex to the contract for the construction of the highway Kičevo-Ohrid has been signed, with a deadline 31 December 2023.
Highway Kičevo-Ohrid under construction; Photo: Meta Archive
“The Public Enterprise for State Roads expects this deadline to be observed. Up to this moment, about 95% of the route has been penetrated, most of the infrastructure projects have already been approved and the construction is ongoing. The percentage of realization is 70.40%”, this public company informs.
In addition, in the spring of 2018, the Government led by ex-prime minister Zoran Zaev announced that it was necessary to extend the deadline for the final construction due to inconsistency of the project documentation with the actual conditions on the field. However, there was another reason and this was because some infrastructure facilities, such as the nine interchanges, were not placed where initially planned in the original project. In November 2019, an additional loan of 180 million US dollars was obtained from Exim Bank of China for the completion of the highway. The second highway that was being built with Chinese funds in North Macedonia was put into use at the beginning of June 2019. On the 47-kilometer section between Miladinovci and Štip in the east of the country, there were no toll stations for more than three years, and two toll stations were opened as late as July 18, 2022.
From today’s perspective, the State Audit Office directs criticism regarding the realization of the highway Kičevo-Ohrid in the Final Performance Audit Report “Indebting of entities from the public sector, degree of utilization of credits and loans, paid and created expenses”.
The state auditors point out in the Report that even with the latest, fifth annex to the contract for the construction of the highway Kičevo-Ohrid and the set deadline of December 31, 2023, there is a high risk of non-fulfillment of the undertaken obligations and additional compensation claims, additional costs after the loan and extended deadline.
“As a result, there is a high degree of uncertainty for damage claims, an increase in the costs of the loan agreement due to a construction stoppage for interest paid on withdrawn funds and a commission on undrawn funds,” the auditors’ Final Report states.
In addition, the audit draws attention to the fact that for the implementation of this project, as well as for the economical use of funds, coordinated action of several state institutions is needed, for the Public Enterprise for State Roads to fulfill the obligations in the role of an investor.
“Also, if the obligations under the contract are not fulfilled, there is a risk of a dispute that can cause large financial damages”, warn the state auditors.
At the same time, the State Audit Office in the Report criticizes the construction of this highway section, namely: the construction of a 57-kilometer highway according to outdated projects that do not reflect the real situation on the field, which were not made by planners with international experience, the absence of control and supervision in the design phase, the absence of a tender procedure for determining construction prices, uncoordinated action of institutions in the procedure for approving infrastructure projects and expropriation procedures, a complex legal framework for changes during the construction phase, lack of monitoring and supervision of the implementation of the project, which results in prolonging the deadline for its completion.
Due to all this, the state auditors add in the Report that there is great uncertainty whether the latest deadline for the completion of the highway (31.12.2023) will be observed, but also whether additional costs will arise until the completion of the project. SAO is skeptical about the current promises of politicians regarding the pace of construction of the highway Kičevo-Ohrid.
Chinese loan repayment installments are getting more expensive
And while the construction of the two highways was delayed, the Public Enterprise for State Roads started paying the first installment of the loan from Exim Bank of China as early as July 2019. The total repayment amount is 719 million US dollars and includes the interest rates and the additional loan for the highway Kičevo-Ohrid that was taken out in late 2019.
As of July 2022, the Public Enterprise for State Roads has paid seven installments of the Chinese loans for the highways, and 23 installments for each loan individually remain to be returned. North Macedonia would pay off the loan to China at the beginning of 2034. The public company informs Meta.mk that the last installments are due for payment on January 21, 2034.
For the highway, Miladinovci – Štip, 50 million US dollars have been repaid to the Exim Bank of China, and 164 million US dollars remain to be repaid. For the Kičevo-Ohrid section from the Pan-European Corridor 8, 77,6 million US dollars have been repaid so far, and 427,4 million US dollars remain to be repaid from the Chinese loan.
The Public Enterprise for State Roads has informed on several occasions so far that the revenues they have gathered from the collection of tolls, the excise tax on petroleum products, and the road tax that is paid when registering vehicles, are used, among other things, for the payment of the Chinese loan.
However, the strengthening of the value of the US dollar concerning the Macedonian denar in the past period creates additional problems for the country in the payment of the loan for the two highways.
The Public Enterprise for State Roads clarified for Meta.mk that the installments to the Exim Bank of China are paid in dollars, and given the fact that there are constant changes in its value, it is certain that this negatively affects the payment of installments, because the denar counter value is increasing.
“Thus, in the period from 1 January 2022 to 21 July 2022, due to the growth of the dollar, the Public Enterprise for State Roads has paid 105,000,000 denars more, that is, for this period the value of the dollar increased by 6 denars concerning the payment”, the public company explains the actual prices of the Chinese loan at present.
In addition to the increase in the cost of loans due to the growth of the dollar in relation to the denar, the State Audit Office in the Final Performance Audit Report entitled “Indebting of Public Sector Entities, Degree of Utilization of Credits and Loans, Paid and Created Expenses” states that the financing of projects with loan agreements, such as the loan from the Exim Bank of China, accompanied by non-adherence to the dynamics of construction and without creating performance conditions, also increases the value of the investment.
Thus, the state auditors determined that only for the highway Kičevo-Ohrid, which is being built with Chinese credit, there is an increase in the value of the investment based on costs per loan agreement for interest and commission for 39 million US dollars.
Sinohydro came to the country to stay in the construction business
The Chinese state company Sinohydro entered the implementation of capital infrastructure projects in North Macedonia after taking the loan from the Exim Bank of China and the two laws for the realization of the highways Kičevo-Ohrid and Miladinovci-Štip that were voted in the RNM Assembly in October 2013, after which Sinohydro started the implementation at the beginning of 2014.
Eight years later, in reality, this state-owned construction company from China stayed to compete with other companies from the country and abroad in the implementation of capital infrastructure projects. At the same time, Sinohydro managed to win the international tender procedures for the construction of the second phase of the expressway Štip – Kočani, i.e. for the realization of the section from the village of Krupište to Kočani. This project is implemented with a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Data from the tender procedure for this expressway published on the EBRD website show that there were six interested construction companies and consortia from Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Italy, and Bulgaria that submitted bids. However, at the beginning of 2019 the Chinese company Sinohydro was selected because it offered the lowest price for implementation – about 18.2 million euros.
Printscreen from the published EBRD document on the selection of the most favorable bidder for the expressway Krupište-Kočani
The Chinese company Sinohydro is building the 13.75-kilometer long expressway Krupište-Kočani, and the Public Enterprise for State Roads informs that the contractor was put into operation on April 12, 2019, and was supposed to complete the road by April 12, 2021. The construction deadline has also been breached for this expressway, and the most significant reason is that there is still an unsolved expropriation of the land, that is, one parcel, where a problem arose due to improper recording of ownership in the Real Estate Cadastre.
“The second reason is the delay of the construction works and the current status of realization is 83%. The Contractor will be given 3 months as a final deadline for the completion of the construction after the expropriation of the plot is resolved,” states the answer of the Public Enterprise for State Roads that was submitted to Meta.mk regarding this infrastructure project.
Chinese Sinohydro also managed to win the tender procedure for the completion of the construction of the section between Fariš and Drenovo of the new expressway Gradsko-Prilep on the Pan-European Corridor 10D. In addition, this infrastructural undertaking is financed with a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with a budget of 31.8 million euros, the Public Enterprise for State Roads informs.
The tender for the extension of the first phase of the expressway Gradsko – Prilep was announced at the beginning of September 2020, with two offers received by the deadline of the tender, and the Chinese company Sinohydro was chosen due to the lowest price for the construction works.
The Minister of Transport and Communications Blagoj Bochvarski at a ceremony for the construction of the expressway Gradsko-Prilep; Photo: RNM Government
Sinohydro started working on June 9, 2021, the construction period is 730 days, and the value of the contract with the Chinese company is 2,065,129,316 Macedonian denars or over 33.5 million euros.
“The realization of the project is 20%. Work is being done on the left tube of the tunnel, which has already been penetrated, and work has started in parallel on the right tube of the tunnel”, the Public Enterprise for State Roads explains the current works on this expressway.
As the volume of work of the Chinese company increases in the Macedonian market, so does their profit from the operation. According to the latest analysis published by the financial magazine “PARI” on June 17 of this year, the Skopje subsidiary of the Chinese company “Sinohydro” made a profit of 7 million euros in 2021. A year earlier, in 2020, “Sinohydro Corporation Limited – Beijing, subsidiary Skopje” had a loss of 19 million euros, while in 2019, before the covid pandemic, it made a profit of 24 million euros.
As the volume of work of the Chinese company increases in the Macedonian market, so does their profit from the operation. According to the latest analysis published by the financial magazine “PARI” on June 17 of this year, the Skopje subsidiary of the Chinese company Sinohydro made a profit of 7 million euros in 2021. A year earlier, in 2020, “Sinohydro Corporation Limited – Beijing, Skopje subsidiary” had a loss of 19 million euros, while in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, made a profit of 24 million euros.
The Chinese Highways indictment was filed in 2017, the trial is ongoing
For the construction of the highways Kičevo-Ohrid and Miladinovci-Štip, the former Special Public Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment in the case “Trajectory” on June 30, 2017, and the indictment was approved by the court on November 1, 2017. The court scheduled the first hearing in the trial for December 6, 2017. However, the trial for the “Trajectory” case was sent back after several years of trial, after the Judicial Council of the RNM dismissed judge Goran Boševski because of high corruption, at the beginning of July 2021. Because of this, the trial restarted.
Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, together with the members of the then government led by VMRO-DPMNE – Vice Prime Vladimir Peševski, Minister of Transport and Communications Mile Janakieski, and former director of the Public Enterprise for State Roads Ljupco Georgievski were charged and accused of damaging the state budget by more than 155 million euros. While the indictment was in the initial court proceedings, in November 2019, the absolute statute of limitations for the criminal prosecution of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski came into effect. In the case “Trajectory”, Gruevski was accused of the crime of “Receiving a reward for illegal influence” (Article 359, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code), that is, of agreeing on commissions with the Chinese company Sinohydro, which was the contractor.
For the remaining three defendants in the case “Trajectory” for abuse of official position, the court process continues to this day. According to the data from the Coalition All for Fair Trials, which conducts judicial monitoring of the most important court cases in the country, the trial for the case “Trajectory” is currently in the main hearing, where material evidence proposed by the prosecution is presented. The last court hearing was held in the first half of July 2022.
Meta.mk sent journalistic questions about the case “Trajectory” to the Basic Criminal Court-Skopje, where the trial is taking place, but also to the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for prosecuting organized crime and corruption.
The Basic Criminal Court-Skopje, Department for Organized Crime and Corruption informs that after the trial of the case “Trajectory” was returned to the beginning due to the dismissal of the judge, the court proceedings began on December 6, 2021. However, due to the postponement of the court proceedings hearings and a lapse of 90 days according to the Law on Criminal Procedure, the case started anew on March 18, 2022.
Since the court proceedings on the case have started again, 19 hearings have been scheduled so far, of which 8 have been held. At the moment, the trial is in the evidentiary procedure stage with the presentation of evidence proposed in the list of evidence by the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for prosecuting organized crime and corruption-Skopje, the Basic Criminal Court-Skopje informs Meta.mk.
“We inform you that since the court proceedings on the case have started, 9 hearings have been postponed. The hearings scheduled for 14.12.2021, 16.12.2021, and 23.12.2021 have been postponed due to the inability of the accused Mile Janakieski to attend the scheduled hearings because of injury and performed knee surgery. The hearings scheduled for 21.03.2022, 24.03.2022, and 29.03.2022 have been postponed due to the inability of the accused Vladimir Peševski to attend due to a serious health condition of a parent. The hearing scheduled for 05.04.2022 has been postponed due to the absence of a member of the judicial council, while the hearings scheduled for 17.05.2022 and 30.06.2022 have been postponed due to urgent and official obligations of the Public Prosecutor representing the case”, informed the Basic Criminal Court-Skopje.
However, regarding Nikola Gruevski as a defendant in the case “Trajectory” case, the Basic Criminal Court-Skopje points out that their court acted according to the guidelines of the Court of Appeal and a decision was made on December 6, 2021, based on the proposal of the defense attorney of the defendant Nikola Gruevski, Goran Karkinski, a lawyer from Skopje, for rejecting the indictment proposal against the accused Nikola Gruevski.
“The court rejected the defense counsel’s proposal as unfounded, for the reason that the proceedings, in this case, are in the stage of presentation of the evidence of the defense. The procedure was started anew before a changed trial council only for formal reasons provided for under the Law on Criminal Procedure and is a procedural state that is prescribed according to law. The council also pointed out that at this stage of the procedure it is not possible to reject the indictment proposal, considering the large number of evidence presented in the previous part of the procedure. During the procedure, each party will be given an equal procedural opportunity to present their theory of the case and to correctly determine the factual situation. In addition, the Council does not ignore the possibility until the end of the procedure to reject the charge against the accused Nikola Gruevski under Article 402 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The Skopje Court of Appeal with decision KOKŽ-120/21 confirmed the decision made by this court. While for the rest of the defendants in this procedure, the absolute statute of limitations of the criminal offense begins on 10.10.2033”, the Basic Criminal Court-Skopje informs.
The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecution of Organized Crime and Corruption told Meta.mk that the statute of limitations of the criminal case for the remaining three defendants in the case “Trajectory”, that the criminal case “Abuse of official position and authority” under Article 353, paragraph 5, subparagraph 1, subparagraph 22 of the Criminal Code, which is imposed on the defendants, expires in 2033.
Moreover, the indictment accuses the four defendants (Nikola Gruevski, Mile Janakieski, Vladimir Peševski, and Ljupco Georgievski) of exceeding their competencies in the procedure for selecting a company for the construction of the two highway sections in the period 2012/2013, and the outcome was the selection to the Chinese company Sinohydro as a construction contractor.
In addition, former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski fled from Macedonia to Hungary in November 2018 to avoid going to prison. Gruevski was granted asylum in Hungary, where Viktor Orban is in power. However, Nikola Gruevski and Mile Janakieski have already received prison sentences in North Macedonia with several court rulings. Thus, Gruevski has so far been sentenced to 25 years and six months in prison in five separate court verdicts by the first-instance courts. The former Minister of Transport and Communications, Mile Janakieski, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by the courts of the first instance with five separate court verdicts. Additional criminal court proceedings are ongoing for both of them, which may result in new prison sentences.
A number of gunfire shots, a scuffle with stones and bottles hurled, as well as verbal and physical violence took place yesterday evening during the protest in the capital Skopje against the European proposal for the start of the negotiations for North Macedonia’s EU membership.
The opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski accused that there was a police set-up and an attempt for his assassination, while the ruling Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) pointed out that Mickoski and his coalition partners were the directors of the incident.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs denied the accusations that they did not act on time and published a video documenting the police’s intervention to prevent escalation.
“It was a set-up by the police aimed at killing an innocent citizen, a mother with a child, a pensioner, a young man, or my murder”. This is how Mickoski, the president of VMRO-DPMNE, at an extraordinary press conference yesterday evening commented on the incident at Skenderbeg Square, at the entrance to the Old Skopje Bazaar, in the center of Skopje. Shortly after the incident, he posted a photo on Facebook of several people, one of whom had a gun in his hand and said it was the man who was ordered to kill him.
VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski at an extraordinary press conference, 06.07.2022. Photo: VMRO-DPMNE
In response to a journalist’s question, Mickoski said that it is normal for every parent and husband to fear for his family or to be worried, at least.
“I’m not afraid, but I’m worried. I’m afraid of just only one, and that’s the Lord! There is no other such being on Earth,“ said the leader of the opposition.
He called for cold-headedness and calmness, adding that the incident was supposed to have looked like an interethnic conflict, and in fact, it was nothing more than a struggle for power, offices, and functions by the parties that are part of the government.
“This has nothing to do with interethnic intolerance, it’s just a fight for naked power. Among other things, I have been receiving informal information for a long time about my elimination summoned by the authorities,“ explained Mickoski, adding that yesterday evening at least two people with firearms were ready to assassinate him.
As he added, the police had not been in the right place. Mickoski accussed that such a scenario was announced by the government, i.e. the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani, the Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, and the Minister of Internal Affairs Oliver Spasovski.
Asked whether the man that he identified out as a person chosen by the authorities to cause incidents or to assassinate him, is actually part of the opposition, i.e. activist of the Alliance for Albanians political party, which is VMRO-DPMNE’s coalition partner in the local government, Mickoski said that he does not pay attention to that and appealed against politicizing the matter.
“I said, we should not politicize the matter. That is the last thing we should do today. Today I do not speak with political vocabulary, but with human language. I sent a message for unification, rising above politics, rising above those politicians who called for interethnic tensions in Macedonia on dictate, if what they planned does not come to realization. Whether or not he is a member, I do not care,“ Mickoski replied.
Immediately after the press conference of the opposition leader, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement denying his claims.
“The Ministry of Internal Affairs completely denies the claims of VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski that the police were not present and did not react in the incident at the Skenderbeg monument”, said the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
They add that the police were on the scene and reacted and prevented the violence, and, at the same time, that one person was suspected of firing a firearm was immediately arrested.
“During the protests, the police are completely at the level of the task and we are urging the parties to stop spreading disinformation,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs stressed.
A press conference was also held by SDSM spokesman Darko Kaevski, who believes that in this case Mickoski is not a victim, but the organizer of the incident, together with his coalition partners, with the aim of causing interethnic tensions.
“Mickoski is not a victim, but is the director of a bloody scenario, together with his coalition partners Levica and the Alliance for Albanians. A bloody scenario that didn’t work out. Mickoski was not a target, moreover tonight played the worst role for the state and the citizens. The behavior of the opposition that is trying to cause inter-ethnic tensions is shameful, terrible, and dangerous,“ said Kaevski.
He then added that the arrested gunman was actually the brother of PE Communal Hygiene’s director Zudi Enuzi Koka, president of the Alliance for Albanians’ Chair branch, a party which is a coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE in Skopje local self-government unit.
After the press conference of SDSM, the mayor of Skopje, Danela Arsovska announced that despite his excellent and professional management, she dismisses the acting director of PE Communal Hygiene Zudi Enuzi, who is reportedly the brother of the person who fired a shot in the air at Skenderbeg Square.
“The City of Skopje, as a city of coexistence and solidarity, must not be the center of violence and confrontations with firearms and creating inter-ethnic tensions between our fellow citizens. Politics has gained momentum and in no case should it influence the professionalism of the management of institutions“, said Mayor Arsovska.
As she added, despite the excellent and professional management of the Public enterprise Communal Hygiene by Zudi Enuzi, yet her code of ethics did not allow her to let him continue running the enterprise.
“That is why he has been dismissed from his post of acting director,” Arsovska said.
After the incident yesterday evening, the organizers of the protests against the start of Macedonia’s EU membership negotiations announced a new route for today’s protest.
Via email, in an anonymous message from “Ultimatum – No thank you”, they announced that the protest will start today at 19 hours in front of the government building, then the demonstrant will head toward the Ministry of Justice and will finish in front of the the Parliament.
According to the announcement, the protesters will not move towards the Skopje Old Bazaar and the “Skenderbeg” Square where the incident took place yesterday.
President Stevo Pendarovski published a statement this morning, saying that it is unacceptable to use violence and to incite violence for political purposes.
The President of North Macedonia. Photo: Office of the President
“The event that took place yesterday in Skopje must not be repeated, because there is nothing more important than the peace and security for all citizens,” the president’s office said in a statement.
President Pendarovski appealed to the organizers of the protests that are taking place in the country these days, to take responsibility and to continue to practice their democratic right to protest with dignity and without violence.
“At the same time, I strongly condemn the use of firearms by civilians and citizens of this country who are not members of the security forces. Yesterday the police responded quickly and prevented further clashes. I expect all persons who were involved in the incident yesterday to be arrested and appropriately sanctioned in the shortest possible time,“ President Pendarovski said.
The Open Society-Macedonia Foundation also reacted, saying it monitors the situation that escalated with riots in front of the Government, Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia and expresses serious concern about the escalation of hatred on ethnic grounds.
“The violence and the hatred that has been observed in the past days in the protests, through calls for a “pure Macedonia”, inspired by the speeches of the protesters, is the basis for the deterioration of the fragile interethnic relations in the country. We believe that the multi-ethnic diversity in the country is our ace and opportunity for prosperity, and therefore we expect the protest organizers and their supporters to show in action that they embrace the values of recognizing diversity and multiculturalism, and for that reason, different cultures, languages and customs make us richer and better,“ the Foundation said.
Yesterday, the person who threw a Molotov cocktail on the 5th of July 2022 towards the building of the Parliament was detained, the Ministry of Internal Affairs informs. As they add, the culprit it is the 18-year-old J.S. from Skopje, who was identified from the recording and who confessed to the crime.
Russia’s unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack on Ukraine has shocked the world. As we see the images of bloodshed and destruction, attacks on apartment blocks and residential streets, we also remember the lives lost and the damage done in the horrors of other conflicts of the 20th Century in Europe. Conflicts that many claimed were long behind us. Conflicts ended by an international architecture designed to find other ways to solve nations’ problems.
How fragile that international architecture and that promise of peace seems to be, is, of course, dependent on where you sit and how recently Europe’s conflicts touched your life.
My family’s story is the story of European Jewry. The story of those few who survived the conflicts of the 20th Century. My grandfather was born in Rivne (then Rovno), 304km from Kyiv, in 1909. His parents travelled to England in 1911 following an attempt by Cossacks to take my then 4-year-old Great Uncle. My grandmother was born in England, but in 1923 travelled to visit her family in Lviv. Her mother, my Great Grandmother, discovered she was pregnant so they stayed for a year. Grandma loved to talk about her Uncle and his family in Lviv and used an unexpected speech at her 90th birthday to tell us the stories all over again. My other Grandfather used to tell us tales that depended on knowing the differences between people who lived in Minsk, Pinsk and Chelm. And my daughter was born in November 2013 as Ukrainians took to the streets to demand the right to choose their own future.
So when I see the devastation in Ukraine I do not see the story of a distant land. When I see that Russia has bombed Babyn Yar in 2022, I remember the 33,771 Ukrainian Jews murdered there in 1941. As each year here, we remember the deportation and murder of 7,144 Macedonian Jews in March 1943. And when we remember we say Never Again. We say it because we believe it. Because these are our values.
Putin has shown that he does not want to see those values in Russia or her neighbours. He does not want to see a sovereign Ukraine choose its own path as a Western democracy. He does not want to see a Balkans following the Euro-Atlantic path its citizens demand.
So we must continue to act together to show that we believe in our values. That we will take hard decisions in support of our values. That we are united in condemnation of Putin’s war against Ukraine, its people and their values.
We are united in international organisations. 141 countries at the United Nations have condemned the war and demanded withdrawal of Russia’s forces. 38 countries have referred Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court. The largest referral in its history. Over 40 countries at the OSCE have condemned Russia’s actions. The Council of Europe has suspended Russia.
We are united in cutting off the funding for Putin’s war machine. These are the strongest economic measures the UK, and our allies, have ever enacted. We have agreed sanctions on Russia’s banking, defence and transport sectors, on companies and oligarchs at the heart of Putin’s regime. Russian flights are banned from UK airspace and Russian ships are banned from UK ports. We will freeze the assets of Russian banks and legislate to ban the Russian state and Russia’s economically vital industries and companies (like Gazprom) from raising finance on the UK’s money markets – the most important financial centre in Europe.
We are united in our support for Ukraine and her people. The UK, and our allies, are already providing economic, humanitarian and defensive military assistance. The UK is continuing to do everything possible to help Ukraine from training 22,000 soldiers, supplying 2,000 anti-tank missiles, providing £100 million for economic reform and energy independence and £120 million of humanitarian aid, and guaranteeing up to $500 million of Development Bank financing.
We must now remain united. What happens next is critical for peace and security in Europe. And for the values we fight for.
The so-called “Macedonian teenagers” who set up networks of fake news sites in the lead-up to the 2016 United States election continue to turn a profit — not so much for themselves anymore, but for producers looking to capitalize on the exaggerated trope, Global voices reports.
To recap: In 2016, a group of Macedonians from the city of Veles set up various sensationalist websites that peddled disinformation catering to the tastes of Donald Trump voters, including baseless conspiracy theories. The links were marketed via social media, and their basic goal was economic: To get as many clicks as possible in order to generate ad revenue.
While such networks exist around the world, the high concentration of owners of those sites in a small Macedonian city, which was first identified by Buzzfeed, attracted a lot of media attention, resulting in coverage by Channel 4, CNN, Wired, NBC, and others.
Cut to four years later, streaming platform Quibi is said to be preparing a TV series, working title “Clickbait,” that tells “the true story of a group of Macedonian teenagers who made a fortune creating fake news in the run-up to the 2016 election,” according to United States magazine Variety.
The series will star British actor Fionn Whitehead, who played the lead role in the historical feature-length “Dunkirk.” He will play a “Macedonian teenage ringleader” named Niko, described as “a young man desperate to escape his circumstances, who discovers that publishing fake news could be his golden ticket,” says Variety.
Actor Fionn Whitehead attending the World Premiere of Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” in London in 2017. Photo by Wikipedia user Foxy59, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The series executive producers include US filmmaker Matt Reeves (famous for “Cloverfield” and sequels to “Planet of the Apes”) and Ann Ruark (“Boy Erased”).
But the idea that those fake news sites were run by kids was grossly exaggerated by Western mainstream media. In 2018, Investigative Reporting Lab Macedonia revealed that those networks were not just gigs by teenage “hackers,” but that many of them were run by adults, including a Macedonian lawyer with ties to American conservatives.
Macedonian outlet SakamDaKazam.mk followed up on the Variety story by interviewing sources from Veles, who confirmed that a team of producers visited the town in the summer of 2019.
One of the people they interviewed, who did not wish to be identified, was a man who had run such a website in 2016 but was not approached by the series’ producers. He voiced reservations to SakamDaKazam.mk that the series would provide an objective view of the events. In his opinion, the series will most likely reproduce the clichés of “boys who don’t speak English, but write news, teenagers wearing worn-out sneakers forming the public opinion.”
According to the SakamDaKazam.mk article, the filming of the series was taking place during the summer in Bucharest, Romania, due to similarities of the architecture.
Prior to the series, a lesser-known commercial venture related to the Veles affair was a 2019 fiction book by Aleksandar Kukulev, a writer from Veles itself.
“How we elected an American president” (Како избравме американски претседател) is a spy thriller set in Veles and its surroundings. It combines historical references about the Bogomils, who indeed lived in the Veles area in the Middle Ages, with Nazis hiding stolen art treasures in nearby tunnels during World War II. The main plot features Russian, Israeli, and Balkan spy characters fighting over the fake news industry influencing U.S. politics.
In an April 2020 interview with local website Veles365, Kukulev said he never met any of the “Veles teenagers” personally, and that they are just supporting characters in his novel. He added that the teenagers “poked the entire world in the eye… Those lads don’t need to be justified, but need to be respected.” In the same interview, Kukulev also claimed he didn’t receive an award for the novel of the year for 2019 ‘due to political reasons.’
When we first interviewed the owners of these disinformation websites in April 2016, President Trump wasn’t yet an official presidential nominee. Almost all of them were eager to talk to us on the record. Some claimed they do it for financial gain, some said they liked Trump and others denied even having such websites. It’s interesting to note that very shortly after publishing the first article they anonymously re-registered their websites and their names and phone numbers disappeared from official whois records.
Our thorough investigation that followed afterwards showed more about what the actual Veles “fake news factory” is not, instead of what it is. It was very clear that most of them are not teenagers, they don’t have sufficient knowledge of the English language to write news articles and Veles wasn’t the only town in Macedonia that had a “fake news hub.”
By the time Trump won the elections, this was widely spread and some people made a fortune out of it.
After the election results surprised everyone, we had dozens of calls and emails from foreign journalists that wanted to talk to them, but it was almost impossible. The community was closed for public. Those that actually talked to the foreign press were actually real teenagers that had none or little involvement in the websites that pushed the most popular content.
No country in the world knows the exact total number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. All that is known is what can be learned from the official records kept by health authorities based on the results of the tests performed. All infections that are laboratory confirmed are considered confirmed cases.
This means that the number of confirmed cases depends on the number of performed tests by country and the choice of who is going to be tested. No testing, no data. For the number of tests performed and for the results given by different test models, each country has similar, yet diametrically different views and approaches. The question is whether the numbers of patients and deaths as a result of COVID-19 from different countries can be compared at all, i.e. whether such comparisons give reliable results.
The Balkan countries do not have a consistent strategy when it comes to COVID-19 testing. Thus, almost every country says that they follow the recommendations of the WHO, but it seems that these recommendations in each country are interpreted differently. For example, in most countries in the region, postmortem tests are not performed, i.e. people who have died of other reasons are not tested for COVID-19. This was confirmed by the Macedonian Minister of Health Venko Filipče, as well as the President of the Macedonian Commission for Infectious Diseases, Dr Zarko Karadzoski. However, in North Macedonia, such postmortem tests have been performed since the beginning of the epidemic, in order, as they say, to have insight and greater control over the situation. Also, unlike other Balkan countries, in North Macedonia, a person must have two negative tests to be considered recovered.
Dr Aleksandar Stojanov, a longtime epidemiologist and recently acting director of the Center for Public Health, as well as a member of the Macedonian Commission for Infectious Diseases, says that when it comes to the number of tests performed in Macedonia one fact should be taken into account – the health policy demands that even those who died in a car accident, and then proved to be positive for the infection are recorded as COVID-19 deaths.
– Recently we had a man who hanged himself and had a positive postmortem COVID-19 test. In reality, he had died because he hanged himself, not because he was positive of COVID-19, and yet we have recorded that he had died as a result of the virus. There are traffic accidents in which people die, and if it is proven that they are positive of the virus, we record them as COVID-19 victims, says Dr Stojanov. He believes it is necessary to clear such records to get the real death toll.
– Many countries in Europe follow the principle that all those who have died outside the hospital should not be considered COVID-19 deaths – he added.
Dr Stojanov explains that when it comes to testing, states follow the general recommendations provided by the World Health Organization.
– It would be ideal if all citizens in the country were tested. But realistically, no health system can withstand it. Our laboratories could not achieve this. China has tested six million people and has a total population of 1.5 billion. Mass testing is a great option, but we do not have the chance to realize it – explains Stojanov.
In neighboring Serbia, the number of positive cases is on the rise. More than 50,000 tests were performed there last week. In the same period, about 2,500 tests were performed in Montenegro, about 2,800 in Albania, 6,300 in Slovenia, and 8,266 tests were performed in North Macedonia over one week. In fact, according to Serbian authorities, in the past week alone, Serbia has conducted two and a half times as many tests as all of these countries combined. However, this is to be expected, given that Serbia has the largest population and the highest number of registered cases of COVID-19 in the region.
In Serbia, all citizens who have symptoms of coronavirus and who have been in close contact with an infected person have the right to free testing. Testing is also mandatory for patients undergoing surgery and certain procedures, such as bronchoscopy.
From the end of May, a test can be performed on personal request, and swabs are taken in institutes and public health centers, as well as in hospitals. The personal request test costs 50 Euros and the procedure is such that the citizens first transfer the money to the given bank account, and then schedule a test at an institute, health center or hospital.
Serbians complain that in addition to waiting for the results for a long time, hospitals sometimes refuse to test them, even though they claim to have symptoms. Citizens are complaining about crowds of people and long queues in front of the COVID-19 centers where the tests are being performed.
With about 300 new cases per day registered in Serbia in recent weeks, there appear more and more claims that there is a difference between those who have died because of the COVID-19 and those who have died with the COVID-19.
The case of the now-deceased former selector of the Serbian national football team, Ilija Petkovic, is one of the hallmarks. Petkovic was recently admitted to hospital with a perforated ulcer of the duodenum, but after being tested, he was found to be positive for coronavirus. He died a few days later, and one of the members of the Serbian Commission for Infectious Diseases, Dr Branimir Nestorovic, told the media that Petkovic did not die from the coronavirus but from bleeding due to the perforated ulcer.
This case, according to Dr Stojanov, would enter the statistics in North Macedonia as a coronavirus patient and deceased.
In Albania, since the beginning of the epidemic, testing has been limited to those who have had contact with an infected person. Chronically ill people, as well as people over the age of 65, who are considered the most vulnerable, can also be tested.
Albanian authorities claim they are implementing the World Health Organization (WHO) protocol, testing only people with symptoms and those who were in contact with infected people. The local technical committee of experts, after numerous accusations and criticism from the public regarding the testing strategy, said that the COVID-19 tests are based on expertise and a model selected according to WHO recommendations, to detect cases, monitor their situation and break the chain of infection.
In countries such as Albania, where there is a large local transmission, the WHO has recommended that the model testing-detection-treatment should be used. People with symptoms are tested, then everyone who was in contact with the infected person is detected, and after that confirmed positive patients are isolated and treated.
In neighboring Bulgaria, only people with symptoms are tested. In certain settlements or areas where clusters with a large number of patients appear, random tests are performed. A doctor or health inspector will refer you for testing.
In Kosovo, as in other countries in the region, those with symptoms and those who have been in contact with an infected person are tested.
For countries facing clusters (such as the countries in the region), the World Health Organization recommends that all suspicious cases be tested.
“When clusters become large, it is critical that testing of suspected cases continues so that cases can be isolated, contacts can be quarantined, and chains of transmission can be broken,” reads the recommendation of the WHO.
According to the World Health Organization, there are three cases of suspected coronavirus carrier:
A patient with acute respiratory illness (fever or at least one symptom of respiratory illness, such as cough, shortness of breath) who, in the past 14 days has traveled or resided in locations where there has been local transmission of COVID-19.
A patient with an acute respiratory disease who has been in contact with a registered or suspected case of COVID-19 in the last 14 days.
A patient with severe acute respiratory illness (fever or at least one symptom of respiratory illness, shortness of breath; who needs to be hospitalized) who does not have an alternative diagnosis that fully explains the clinical picture.
WHO recommendations are that in the setting of limited resources in areas with community transmission, prioritization for testing should be given to:
people who are at risk of developing severe disease and vulnerable populations, who will require hospitalization and advanced care for COVID-19;
health workers (including emergency services and non-clinical staff) regardless of whether they are a contact of a confirmed case;
the first symptomatic individuals in a closed setting (e.g. schools, prisons, hospitals) to quickly identify outbreaks and ensure containment measures.
The Metamorphosis Foundation announces a CtrlZ Challenge for a short video on the topic: The life of young people after the emergence of COVID-19.
The challenge is open for all interested young people who are aged 13 to 24.
All you have to do is create a short video about what the daily activities of young people will look like after the end of the COVID-19 epidemic. What will the following aspects of life look like: educational process, taking exams, socializing, celebrating birthdays, going to disco parties, going to the movies, going on dates with partners, going to summer and winter vacations, doing do sports. etc.
The videos can be recorded with any camera or phone.
To participate in the challenge you have to:
Post the video on the given topic on your profile on one of the social networks YouTube, TikTok, Instagram;
Add the hashtag #CtrlZChallenge to the title or description of the video;
If the video is posted on Instagram, be sure to tag our profile@ctrlz.mk. Your profile should be open, i.e. public, and not private so that everyone can watch the video. If the video is uploaded to TikTok or YouTube, be sure to send us a link to the video in a direct message to our Instagram account.
The videos should not be longer than 5 minutes, and the used language can be Macedonian, Albanian or English. Also, the videos do not need to contain speech, i.e. the message can be conveyed through what is shown in the video.
In case of using non-copyrighted materials, they must be with an open license, i.e. free for use without any payment.
It is forbidden to use copyrighted material or plagiarism in applications.
The posts and the videos will be evaluated by a three-member committee composed of journalists and civil society representatives. The idea, the creativity in the preparation and the strength of the message of the submitted contents will be the most valued aspects.
The winner will receive a prize – Action Camera GoPro Hero 7.
Applications for the challenge will be accepted from 25 June to 23 July, and the winner will be announced on 31 July 2020.
Ivan Mitić, novinar KoSSev portala i Doruntina Baljiu (Doruntina Baliu) novinarka portala Kallxo, informisali su javnost na Kosovu tokom pandemije korona virusa. Ivan iz Severne Mitrovice, Doruntina iz Prištine. Sa nama su podelili svoja iskustva tokom izveštavanja poslednjih meseci, o saradnji sa institucijama, preprekama sa kojima su se suočavali, dezinformacijama, odgovornosti medija…
Da li se i kako promenio način na koji ste obavljali svoj posao, odnosno izveštavali tokom pandemije korona virusa i uvođenja restriktivnih mera?
Ivan Mitić (KoSSev): Pandemija koronavirusa promenila je svakodnevicu svih ljudi širom planete, pa samim tim i rad novinara. Novinarsku profesiju učinila je još rizičnijom nego što je već bila. Izveštavati sa terena zahtevalo je veći stepen opreza, naročito u manjim prostorijama, kada isti događaj prati veći broj medijskih ekipa, a usled čega se dešavalo da je meru održavanje distance bilo skoro nemoguće poštovati.
Sa druge strane, odmah nakon prvih slučajeva koronavirusa na Kosovu, novinari našeg portala zamenili su kancelarijske prostorije svojim domovima, zbog čega su koordinacija aktivnosti i komunikacija tokom rada svakako bili otežani. Intervjui u studiju zamenjeni su intervjuima putem Skajpa, dok se veći deo komunikacije sa predstavnicima institucija i ostalim sagovornicima vrši putem telefona ili Interneta.
Doruntina Baljiu (Kallxo): Mediji, slično ostalim preduzećima, suočili su se s nekoliko promena u načinu poslovanja. Očigledno da se ograničenja kretanja nisu odnosila na novinare, ali smo bili u obavezi da se pridržavamo zaštitnih mera. Morali smo da smanjimo rad na terenu kako bismo smanjili kontakt sa drugim ljudima. Razlika je u tome što se za to vreme obim posla povećavao, jer su novinari morali da budu u prvom planu u borbi s pandemijom sa obavezom da obaveštavaju javnost. Budući da je ovo novo stanje, odgovornost se takođe povećala.
S obzirom na to da su novinari imali dozvolu za slobodno kretanje tokom izveštavanja o temama u vezi sa korona virusom, da li je bilo problema sa policijom i institucijama tokom korišćenja tog prava u cilju obavljanja novinarskog posla?
Doruntina (Kallxo): Lično, ja nisam imala problema niti sam čula da su moje bliske kolege imale takve probleme. Ipak, bio je jedan prijavljeni slučaj u Severnoj Mitrovici kada je naša koleginica iz KoSSev-a privedena.
Ivan (KoSSev): Ono o čemu će se pričati, čak i u godinama ispred nas, kada se govori o temi izveštavanja novinara u vreme pandemije, svakako je privođenje urednice našeg portala, Tatjane Lazarević, tokom rada na terenu, uprkos tome što je novinarima na Kosovu dozvoljeno 24-časovno kretanje. Sa druge strane, u vreme pandemije, kada je potražnja za informacijama izuzetno velika, neretko se dešavalo da smo ostajali bez odgovora od strane predstavnika institucija i nailazili na pritiske u obavljanju novinarskog posla.
Svakako moram istaći kao primer konferenciju Kriznog štaba u Kosovskoj Mitrovici sa koje sam izveštavao, kada je predsednik Privremenog organa ove opštine, Aleksandar Spirić, zahtevao od našeg portala da ne izveštavamo uživo jer “nemamo saglasnost za to” poručivši mi da se naš portal ne bavi borbom protiv koronavirusa, već „kojekakvim pitanjima“, koja pre svega doprinose „nestabilizaciji“.
Ovakve izjave dovele su do reakcije novinarskih udruženja, ali i osudu OEBS-a, kako zbog privođenja urednice KoSSev portala, tako i zbog načina na koji se lokalne vlasti odnose prema novinarima KoSSev-a.
Kosovo je imalo jedne od najstrožih mera kad je reč o zabrani kretanja građana, na osnovu pretposlednjeg broja lične karte građani su znali kada imaju pravo da izađu napolje. Da li je bilo zabune među građanima i kako je izgledalo obaveštavanje javnosti o merama na snazi?
Ivan (KoSSev): Nakon uvođenja policijskog časa od strane Kosovske vlade koji je bio u dva termina – prepodnevnim i poslepodnevnim satima, a koji nije bio vremenski usklađen sa policijskim časom koji je uveden od strane Vlade u Beogradu, na Severu Kosova je nastala opšta zabuna. Naša Fejsbuk stranica postala je preplavljenja jednim te istim pitanjem – ‘koji policijski čas treba poštovati, kada nam je dozvoljeno kretanje?’ Trudili smo se da čitaocima razjasnimo okolnosti i pružimo sve informacije, kako o merama Prištine, tako i o onim koje su se u to vreme razlikovale, a koje su predstavili lokalni Krizni štabovi na Severu Kosova. Situacija je postala puno jasnija nakon što je direktor Kancelarije za KiM, Marko Đurić saopštio sredinom aprila da će građanima biti dozvoljeno kretanje 90 minuta dnevno, a što je mera koju je prethodno najavilo kosovsko ministarstvo zdravlja.
Doruntina (Kallxo): Raspored kretanja je zaista bio komplikovan. Ipak, na osnovu onoga što sam ja mogla da vidim i čujem, građani su se brzo privikli na nova pravila. Mi kao medij smo se takođe trudili da pojednostavljeni prikažemo pravila na krativne načine poput platforme „tvojih 90 minuta“ (“ 90 minutëshi yt”) gde su građani mogli da ukucaju broj iz lične karte i onda bi im se prikazalo njihovo vreme za kretanje.
Kakva je bila komunikacija sa institucijama tokom proteklih meseci, da li su odgovarali na pitanja koja ste im slali blagovremeno i pružali adekvatne odgovore, i da li su informisali građane na pravi način?
Doruntina (Kallxo): Zavisilo je od zahteva. Rekla bih da je komunikacija u vezi sa COVID-19 bila blagovremena. S druge strane, kad je reč o zahtevima koji nisu bili u direkntoj vezi sa korona virusom bilo je kašnjenja ili odbijanja uz izgovor da nema dovoljno zaposlenih koji rade puno radno vreme. Ovo se uglavnom dešavalo na opštinskom nivou, čak i u slučajevima kada smo sprovodili istraživanja u vezi sa troškovima iz hitnih ugovora za pitanja u vezi sa COVID-19. Postojao je još jedan problem u vezi sa saradnjom institucija, posebno između većinski srpskih opština sa centralnim institucijama pa je često bilo zabune čak i kad je reč o statistici zaraženih.
Ivan (KoSSev): Usled nedostatka zvaničnih informacija mnogi građani su se obratili našem portalu sa još jednim pitanjem “kada će biti otvoreni prelazi?”. Nakon pojavljivanja prvih slučajeva koronavirusa u centralnoj Srbiji zatvorene su granice, ali su i zatvoreni prelazi ka Kosovu, što je izazvalo veliko nezadovoljstvo naroda, pogotovu onih koji žive na Severu Kosova. Odgovor na pitanje “kada će biti otvoreni prelazi” i dan danas traže naši čitaoci, međutim, nažalost, isti još uvek ne možemo da im damo. Sa jedne strane zbog toga što će kosovska vlada odlučivati o otvaranju prelaza u junu, a sa druge strane zbog toga što zvaničnih potvrda iz Beograda da su prelazi otvoreni nema, iako je prema svedočenjima građana situacija na terenu drugačija.
Kada govorim o tome da na naša pitanja nisu odgovorali predstavnici institucija, svakako se moram vratiti na konferenciju kriznog štaba u Kosovskoj Mitrovici kada mi je predsednik Privremenog organa opštine Kosovska Mitrovica na pitanje o mogućem zatvaranju prodavnica tokom Uskrsa odgovorio tako što je poželeo srećan praznik građanima, a na ponovno pitanje rekao da je konferencija završena.
Usred „vanrednog stanja“ pala je vlada na Kosovu, te je na početku bilo i izjava da je zabrana kretanja neustavna i da građani ne bi trebalo da je poštuju. Da li je ova politička kriza dovela do zabune među građanima i načinu na koji treba da se ponašaju tokom pandemije?
Ivan (KoSSev): Građani Severa Kosova bili su rastrgnuti između mera Beograda i Prištine. Poziv kosovskog predsednika, Hašima Tačija, upućen nakon uvođenja prvih mera ograničenja kretanja u dva termina od strane kosovske vlade da se iste ne poštuju, samo je dodatno iskomplikovao situaciju. Međutim, iako su se mere kosovske vlade odnosile na celu teritoriju Kosova, građani na Severu su ipak bili okrenuti Kriznim štabovima u ovim opštinama, i čekali da im oni saopšte koje će se mere primenjivati, a koje su kako je vreme odmicalo, sve više bile usaglašenije sa prištinskim merama.
Doruntina (Kallxo): Mislim da je politička kriza sigurno doprinela frustraciji javnosti i zabuni tokom prvih meseci pandemije.
Sa koronom došlo je i mnoštvo lažnih vesti i dezinformacija u medijima širom sveta. Da li ste primetili lažne vesti u ovom periodu u medijima na Kosovu?
Doruntina (Kallxo): Da, bilo je lažnih vesti tokom pandemije. O dosta njih se izveštavalo na platformi za proveru činjenica „Krypometër“ u okviru portala KALLXO.com. Neke od njih odnosile su se na izveštaje o prvim slučajevima zaraze kad još uvek nije bilo nijednog slučaja na Kosovu.
KRYPOMETËR je platforma za proveru činjenica koja je formirana krajem 2016. godine i jedina je platforma na Kosovu koja je sertifikovana od strane Međunarodne mreže za proveru činjenica (IFCN). Od tada objavljeno je preko 400 članaka o proveri činjenica. KRYPOMETËR verifikuje javne izjave u nekoliko kategorija: laži, poluistine i data obećanja koja ćemo u budućnosti proveriti. Takođe smo objavili veliki broj članaka o proveri činjenica u vezi sa lažnim vestima ili dezinformacijama u lokalnim i međunarodnim medijima. To je jednostavna platforma koja omogućava građanima da vide da li su političari i javni zvaničnici održali reč, jesu li promenili stavove i takođe da identifikuju lažne vesti.
Ivan (KoSSev): Od nastanka pandemije svakako je bilo puno dezinformacija i preporuka koje nisu u skladu sa strukom, ali i izjava predstavnika medicinske zajednice – “da virus postoji samo na Fejsbuku” i saveta da se žene u sred pandemije “upute u šoping u Milano”. Mislim da su ipak preporuke Kriznih štabova nadjačale teorije zavere o 5G mreži, lečenju korone belim lukom itd.
Kako građani mogu da prepoznaju lažnu vest, dezinformaciju? Koji su vaši saveti njima, šta treba da imaju na umu dok čitaju vesti?
Ivan (KoSSev): Kada građani čitaju vesti često zaborave da provere izvor tj. na koga se poziva novinar koji je pisao vest. Pojedini samo pročitaju naslove u tabloidima, koji su neretko maštoviti, mogu biti delimično ili u potpunosti netačni i nepotkrepljeni samim tekstom. Ujedno se čitaoci često zadrže na tom jednom mediju, ne pokušavajući da provere da li su i drugi mediji došli do iste informacije, što je jedno od osnovnih pravila novinarstva. Svakako pomaže kada znate ponešto o mediju u kojem ste pronašli vest, te o tome koliko je poznat po širenju lažnih vesti.
Doruntina (Kallxo): Mislim da medijska pismenost igra veliku ulogu u javnom obrazovanju u vezi sa dezinformacijama. Mislim da je pre svega važno proveriti izvore (ko je objavio vest, da li je to medij, da li ima adresu, da li vest ima autora, lice, ime?). Takođe je važno videti ko je citiran u članku, zvuči li to više kao mišljenje, a prodaje se kao vest? Mislim da su to pitanja koja treba imati na umu, pored ostalih stvari.
Šta je sa medijima, da li oni imaju odgovornost za objavljivanje ovakvih sadržaja, i šta bi mediji i novinari trebalo da rade u vezi sa ovom temom?
Ivan (KoSSev): Odgovornost novinara za pisanu reč postoji, a ona je samo uvećana u vreme pandemije. Svedoci smo toga da su se u medijima obljavljivali lični podaci inficiranih osoba, ili osoba koje sa nalaze u karantin zonama, ovo je svakako neodgovorno novinarstvo. Takođe, loš primer novinarske struke vidi se i u izveštavanju javnog servisa Kosova na albanskom – RTK, koji je zvonjavu zvona sa crkve u Prištini povezao sa “borbom protiv COVID-19 nepotvrđenim ruskim modelom“. Istu vest je prenelo više prištinskih medija, što je svakako izazvalo veliko nezadovoljstvo, kako samih vernika, tako i Eparhije raško-prizrenske.
U situaciji u kakvoj se celi svet nalazi mediji imaju veliku moć, te je zato neophodno građanima pružiti tačne informacije, koje su u interesu javnosti. Kvalitet medija ogleda se u poverenju čitalaca. Naročito u teškim situacijma, kada je, ponavljam, potražnja za tačnom informacijom višestruko uvećana. U takvim trenucima čitaoci se okreću upravo medijima kojima veruju, a koji takoreći postaju oglasna tabla za pitanja. Iz našeg iskustva, ali i iskustva kolega iz drugih medija, znam da bez obzira na probleme sa kojima se u redovnom stanju suočavaju, da se posete, odnosno čitanost ovih medija višestruko povećala. Koliko god da građani pristaju na lažnu informaciju, kada je situacija rizična, odnosno stresna, oni tačno znaju gde mogu pronaći tačnu informaciju.
Doruntina (Kallxo): Definitivno, pored očigledne obaveze da profesionalno rade svoj posao, mislim da se obaveza medija treba proširiti i na identifikovanje lažnih vesti i izveštavanje o tome.
Rachel Galloway, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to North Macedonia. Photo credit: British Embassy Skopje
As the uncertainty around Covid-19 continues, nations from all over the world have been cooperating closely to align efforts to develop a safe, effective and globally accessible vaccine, and are hoping to achieve this goal in record time.
While restrictive measurements, including social distancing, have bought us time and given us an element of control, a working vaccine and effective treatments are what we really need to end the pandemic and allow us to begin global economic recovery.
Developing and distributing a safe and effective vaccine in such a short amount of time is a global effort. It requires determination, collaboration and continued sharing of expertise. Countries, governments, scientists and pharmaceutical companies all need to coordinate to ensure that we achieve our ambitions for a vaccine as quickly as possible. Not only will it save countless lives, it will allow us to concentrate on repairing our economies.
The UK is investing heavily in vaccine development and is driving forward this unprecedented global collaboration. Investments need to be made early, to ensure that we have the capacity to manufacture and distribute vaccines at scale and at high speed across the globe. A safe and effective vaccine needs to reach every corner of the globe as soon as possible. We must not leave anyone behind.
The UK has already committed £313m for the development of new vaccines, treatments and tests, in addition to our £1.65bn commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s vital immunisation work across the world.
Following the UK co-hosted Global Coronavirus Response Initiative on 4 May, our Prime Minister will be hosting the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June. This is a virtual event that brings together leaders from around the world to pledge their support to Gavi. We are hoping to raise at least US$7.4 billion to protect a further 300 million more children against infectious diseases like measles, typhoid and polio. It is essential that we can maintain routine immunisation throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The Global Vaccine Summit is also an opportunity to outline Gavi’s role in obtaining and distributing a coronavirus vaccine. Gavi is already working hard with partners to ensure that any future vaccine is effective, safe and can be delivered around the world. An equally distributed vaccine will be the world’s best defence against coronavirus, facilitating our shared recovery and reducing the risk of repeated outbreaks.
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we are all able to continue to have our regular online meetings with colleagues, contacts and Ministers. Just this week, Health Minister Venko Filipce and I discussed the importance of vaccines and the steps that the UK and North Macedonia have been taking to control the spread of the disease.
We are extremely proud to be working alongside international partners in oUK ur fight against the coronavirus. By expanding and maintaining this close cooperation, we can increase testing, develop new vaccines and treatments made accessible to everyone who needs them, as soon as possible, to end this pandemic for good.
Rachel Galloway, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to North Macedonia
Predsednica Narodne skupštine Srbije Maja Gojković u gostovanju na televiziji Happy pre oko nedelju dana pričajući o predstojećim izborima u Srbiji i organizovanju kampanje rekla je da sve države u Evropi polako popuštaju mere.
„Još uvek se ne prave nikakvi skupovi, zato što epidemija polako jenjava, kao i svuda u Evropi. Vidite da svi rade slično i da je to uobičajeno da se polako popuštaju mere, organizuje prevoz“ objašnjavala je Gojkovićeva.
Pričajući tada u emisiji Dobro jutro, Beograde, predsednica Skupštine navela je primer Švedske kao izuzetak:
„U svim zemljama osim u Švedskoj je uvedeno vanredno stanje. Svi viču Švedska, Švedska, videli na televiziji da neki ljudi šetaju po parkovima. Ako se već poredimo sa njima, u Švedskoj nije uvedeno vanredno stanje ni kada im je ubijen predsdenik Palme, niti ministarka inostranih poslova“, dodala je tada Gojkovićeva.
Činjenica je da je epidemija obuhvatila Evropu, ali nisu sve zemlje isto reagovale na pojavu virusa korona.
Naime, Poljska nije proglasila vanredno stanje, već je proglasila stanje epidemije. Što se tiče Ukrajine, ni ona nije u vanrednom stanju, već je uvela vanrednu situaciju. Još jedna evropska zemlja koja je primer izuzetka uvođenja vanrednog stanja je San Marino, koji zbog virusa COVID – 19 nije uveo vanredno stanje, ali jeste usvojio niz mera za spračavanje širenja virusa korona. Grčka je uvela zabranu kretanja, a Belorusija nije duži period uvodila nikakve mere restrikcije.
Zbog svega navedenog, izjava predsednici Skupštine da je u svim zemljama uvedeno vanredno stanje, osim u Švedskoj, tim Istinomera dodeljuje Maji Gojković ocenu neistina.
Inače, za izjavu “da je vanredno stanje uvelo 27 zemalja”, Istinomer je premijerki Ani Brnabić već dodelio ocenu skoro neistina.
Two months since the first case of COVID-19 was registered in Croatia, as the first Balkan nation to have officially confirmed the presence of the virus, there almost 20,000 inhabitants of 10 Balkan nations that have been infected with the virus.
What’s most striking about the official statistics published by the World Health Organization, the Johns Hopkins University and Worldometer, is that more than one third of the confirmed cases are in Serbia, a Balkan country where the new pandemic was firstly ignored by the government and even made fun of.
The least number of COVID19 cases is registered in Montenegro, only 319.
Greece and Croatia have more than 2,000 cases, and Bosnia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Slovenia all have more than one thousand confirmed COVID19 cases since the outbreak began.
Kosovo and Albania have identified around 650 cases each.
Pomoć u borbi protiv virusa korona u Srbiju je stizala kako iz Kine, tako i iz Evropske unije, ali i Rusije, Turske, Norveške, SAD. Dok su na ulicama nakon kineske pomoći “osvanuli” bilbordi zahvalnosti ovoj zemlji, pomoć iz drugih zemalja i EU nije se “dizala u nebesa”. Čak se i ton kojim se pisalo u medijima o ovim zemljama razlikuje. O Kini i Rusiji sve više preovladava pozitivan ton, dok se o SAD i Evropskoj uniji govori, uglavnom u negativnom kontekstu. Ovo su samo neki od rezultata medija monitoringa koji je sprovela organizacija CRTA u periodu od januara zaključno sa 17. aprilom 2020. godine.
Sa izbijanjem zdravstvene krize, poslednjih mesec i nešto dana mogli smo da svedočimo reklo bi se zaokretu u spoljnoj politici Srbije. Korona virus ojačao je, prema rečima gotovo svih zvaničnika Srbije, kao i bliskim im medijima, dok se predsednik države, kako je priznao, “razočarao u veliku evropsku solidarnost”. Naime, dok je narativ predsednika o Kini i inače bio pozitivan, od uvođenja vanrednog stanja, broj izjava u kojima on pozitivno govori o Kini utrostručen je.
“Živelo čelično prijateljstvo Srbije i NR Kine”
O Kini je u pozitivnom kontekstu najviše pisao RTS, dok je od svih članaka objavljenih od početka 2020. koji o Kini govore u pozitivnom tonu, čak 65 procenata njih je objavljeno u martu, navodi se u istraživanju Crte.
U razgovoru za dnevni list “Politika”, ambasadorka Kine Čen Bo je 20. marta najavila“skromnu pomoć i podršku” i dolazak medicinskih stručnjaka iz Kine u Srbiju.
Istog dana, avion iz Srbije odleteo je u Kinu po pomoć – respiratore, testove za koronavirus, maske i medicinsku zaštitnu odeću, a već narednog, organizovan je doček na aerodromu “Nikola Tesla”.
I pre nego što je pomoć najavljena, predsednik Vučić je na nalogu @buducnostsrbijeav podelio fotografiju sa predsednikom Kine, Si Đinpingom, uz komentar: “Živelo čelično prijateljstvo Srbije i NR Kine”.
Koji dan kasnije, pomoć stiže, a u obraćanju javnosti sa aerodroma, predsednik ponovo izražava zahvalnost predsedniku Kine.
“Beskrajno hvala mom bratu i prijatelju, predsedniku Si Đinpingu, i čekam ga u Srbiji i dočekaće ga stotine hiljada ljudi kad bude došao u našu zemlju”, rekao je Vučić.
Već 23. marta, Bo se zahvaljuje Srbiji na poverenju, i najavljuje novi kontigent pomoći.
A kada je reč o nabavci medicinskog materijala i opreme, ambasadorka je tada rekla da će kineska ambasada biti u kontaktu sa Vladom Srbije i predsednikom Vučićem.
Još jedan avion sa kineskom pomoći sleće na srpsko tlo nekoliko dana kasnije. Stigli su klinički respiratori, neinvazivni respiratori, zaštitne maske, zaštitna odela, testovi i oprema. Prema rečima premijerke Srbije Ane Brnabić, Srbija je deo pristigle opreme kupila iz budžeta, a deo su donirale Narodna Republika Kina i kompanije iz te države – HBIS, vlasnik Železare Smederevo, ali i IBS i Elephant Alliance.
Ovaj let je, inače, organizovan uz pomoć Razvojnog programa Ujedinjenih nacija (UNDP), a troškove u iznosu od oko 460.000 dolara pokrila je Evropska unija.
“Ovo je poruka solidarnosti i zajedništva, i prelep primer toga kako svet postaje jedno u teškim vremenima, a vremena jesu teška, ne samo za Republiku Srbiju, već za ceo svet”, rekla je tada Brnabić i zahvalila se kako Kini, tako i EU.
O solidarnosti je govorila i kineska ambasadorka.
“Raduje me što se sve više i više ljudi slaže da je solidarnost najvažnija u borbi protiv virusa, i današnji događaj je dobar pokazatelj. Vidite kako Srbija, Kina, EU i UN zajedno rade. Dozvolite mi da ponovim – solidarnost je snaga”, rekla je ona.
Kini i kineskom lideru Si Đinpingu je zahvalnica za pomoć Srbiji stigla iz – redakcije Informera, i to u vidu bilborda na više lokacija u Beogradu s porukom: “Hvala, brate Si!”
Kina je takođe donirala Srbiji i dve laboratorije za testiranje na korona virus. Ugovor je potpisan 8. aprila sa institutom za genomiku BGI iz Kine. Ovaj sporazum, kako se navodi na sajtu Vlade, obuhvata nabavku dve laboratorije ukupnog kapaciteta 3.000 testova dnevno, a uključuje i svu potrebnu prateću opremu, testove, kao i komplete za uzimanje briseva.
Koliko smo, na kraju, zaista pomoći dobili od Kine, a koliko smo toga platili iz budžeta, za građane Srbije je i dalje nepoznanica.
Iako nam je ministar finansija Siniša Mali na konferenciji za novinare 10. aprila obećao da ćemo do ponedeljka 12. aprila odgovor dobiti – to se nije desilo, stoga odgovor i dalje čekamo.
Doček za Ruse uz pogaču i narodnu nošnju
S prvom pomoći iz Rusije, počinju sve više da se objavljuju i pro-ruski tekstovi.
Prvi od 11 aviona pomoći iz Rusije sleteo je u na vojni aerodrom u Batajnici 3. aprila. Medicinsku opremu, respiratore, maske, ali i lekare dočekali su premijerka Ana Brnabić, ministar odbrane Aleksandar Vulin, načelnik generalštaba Vojske Srbije Milan Mojsilović i ruski ambasador u Srbiji Aleksandar Bocan-Harčenko.
Već narednog dana, sva pomoć iz Rusije stigla je u Srbiju.
Avion sa pomoći stigao je i iz Turske 8. aprila, a dočekali su ga ministar odbrane Aleksandar Vulin i ambasador Turske Tanžu Bilgič.
“Kada nam je bilo najteže nisu se javile sve zemlje. One koje su se javile imaju našu večnu zahvalnost”, poručio je tada Vulin.
Kako pomaže EU Srbiji?
Pomoć u borbi protiv virusa korona stiže u Srbiju i iz EU. Međutim, Srbija je tu pomoć dočekala znatno skromnije nego kinesku.
Na to je reagovao i šef Evropske diplomatije Žozep Borel:
“Svi su zabrinuti zbog Balkana. Vodi se borba oko narativa. Ako biste mogli otići u Beograd, mogli biste videti bilbord sa slikom predsednika Kine Sija koji kaže ‘Hvala brate Si, jedino nam vi pomažete’, što je smešno, nikada nismo videli bilbord kojim se zahvaljuje nama. Tako se onda kineska pomoć nađe na ulicama, a kada mi pomažemo i pre i tokom krize onda ništa, zato moramo ojačati kapacitete da objasnimo svoju stabilizirajuću ulogu na Balkanu”, kazao je Borel pre nekoliko dana.
Slična reakcija stigla je i od švedskog političara, kopredsedavajućeg Saveta Evrope za spoljnu politiku Karla Bilta.
„Kada je Kina poslala avion sa pomoći za Srbiju, predsednik Vučić je napravio veliku predstavu od toga. Ali, kada je stigla daleko bitnija pomoć od Evropske unije, nigde niste mogli da vidite ni fanfare ni predsednika“, napisao je Bilt.
When China 🇨🇳 sent an aircraft with help to Serbia 🇷🇸 President Vucic made a great show of it. But when far more substantial 🇪🇺 aid arrives there is no fanfare and no President in sight. https://t.co/Tlc9VCFLsI
Podsetimo, predsednik Vučić je 15. marta u obraćanju nakon uvođenja vanrednog stanja rekao da “evropska solidarnost ne postoji” i da odlukama EU nije moguć uvoz robe.
Međutim, u svom obraćanju na Tviter nalogu, 15. marta ove godine predsednica Evropske komisije Ursula fon der Lajen je istakla da se “medicinska oprema može izvoziti u zemlje koje nisu članice EU”, ali “samo uz izričito odobrenje vlada zemalja članica”. Zbog toga je Istinomer predsednikovu tvrdnju ocenio kao “skoro neistina”.
Osim pomoć, iz EU su stigle i poruke solidarnosti, i to od šefa delegacije EU u Srbiji Sema Fabricija, koji je rekao da je solidarnost “deo evropske DNK”.
“Sada virus napada Evropu. Naša društva, naše živote i našu ekonomiju dovodi u veliku opasnost, i uprkos hiljadama ljudi koji umiru, pružamo solidarnost Srbiji i njenim građanima, da pomognemo kad je najpotrebnije”, poručio je Fabrici.
A šta je EU donirala? Evropska komisija je odobrila paket mera za pomoć Srbiji u vrednosti od 93 miliona evra. Dok je deo namenjen za neposrednu pomoć (15 miliona evra), preostali deo novca opredeljen je za oporavak privrede.
Evropska unija je zatim doniralajoš 4,9 miliona evra za pomoć Srbiji u borbi protiv pandemije, koji spadaju u pomenutih 93 miliona evra. Ministarka za evropske integracije Jadranka Joksimović je po potpisivanju ovog sporazuma 3. aprila rekla da će novac hitno biti usmeren na “kupovinu maski, respiratora, laboratorijskih testova, monitora intenzivne nege, beskontaktnih termometara i zaštitne opreme, kontejnera potrebnih za trijažu i druge potrebne opreme”. Joksimović je napomenula i da je Srbija u stalnoj komunikaciji sa EU.
“Srećan sam da je solidarnost EU brzo odgovorila na zahtev Srbije za pomoć. (…) Podrška EU će se nastaviti i na dalje, kako za hitne tako i za kratkoročne i srednjeročne mere, ukupne vrednosti 93 miliona evra, a u skladu sa potrebama Srbije”, rekao je ambasador EU u Srbiji Sem Fabrici.
O EU se ipak u medijima uglavnom pisalo u negativnom kontekstu, najpre na televizijama sa nacionalnom frekvencijom, navodi se u Crtinom istraživanju. Pozitivan ton prema EU bio je primetan, međutim, kada se radilo o člancima iz oblasti ekonomije.
Evropska komisija je, takođe, predložila i novi paket mera makrofinansijske pomoći zemljama Zapadnog Balkana iz Instrumenta za brzo finansiranje.
“Uz podršku MMF ta sredstva mogu doprineti jačanju makroekonomske stabilnosti i stvaranju prostora kako bi se omogućilo raspoređivanje resursa za zaštitu građana i ublažavanje negativnih socio-ekonomskih posledica pandemije koronavirusa”, navodi se u saopštenju Evropske komsije.
Srbija, međutim, nije obuhvaćena tim paketom pomoći, jer se, naime, nije za tu pomoć ni prijavila.
Predsednik Vučić rekao je da Srbija nije tražila pomoć od EU, jer je već uzela kredite od Svetske banke i Centralne evropske banke po povoljnijim uslovima. Dodao je i da iznos koji nudi EU nije pomoć, već pozajmica.
Srbiji je pomoć stigla i od Norveške za borbu protiv virusa korona, i to pet miliona evra.
“Veoma je važno što su naši norveški prijatelji pronašli dovoljno snage da nam pomognu u ovom trenutku”, rekao je Vučić.
Godfri: SAD veliki donator Srbiji
Srbiji je pomoć stigla i od SAD. Ambasador SAD u Srbiji Entoni Godfri rekao je u intervjuu za Glas Amerike početkom aprila da je njegova država veliki donator Srbiji, i da će Srbija dobiti deo pomoći od 1,35 miliona dolara koliko je SAD opredelila za pomoć celom svetu. Iz Amerike je stiglo, tako, 6 000 testova, što je, kako je rekao Godfri, samo deo pomoći.
Na pitanje da prokomentariše način na koji je dočekana pomoć iz Rusije i Kine, u odnosu na onu iz SAD i EU, Godfri kaže:
“Jedini način da preživimo i da nešto obnovimo je da radimo zajedno. Svako ko je voljan da pomogne drugoj zemlji – treba mu biti zahvalan. Ne želim da vidim politizaciju zahvalnosti, niti da se pomoć koristi u igranju geopolitike.”
O SAD su mediji, prema istraživanju Crte, pisali više u negativnom kontekstu. Ipak, pozitivan ton prema SAD bio je primetan kada se pisalo o politici. Na televizijama sa nacionalnom frekvencijom, pak, SAD su predstavljane uglavnom u negativnom kontekstu.
„Svi novinari na Kosovu, bez obzira za koju medijsku kuću rade, u obavezi su da imaju potvrdu Poreske administracije Kosova (PAK) koja im omogućava slobodu kretanja dok su na snazi vanredne mere“, preneo je portal Kosovo Online izjavu direktora Instituta za afrimaciju međuetničkih odnosa Fatmira Šeholija. Predsednica Udruženja novinara Kosova (UNK/AGK), Gentiana Begoli (Gentiana Begolli), u izjavi za CBS poručila je da je reč o dezinformaciji.
Šeholi je za ovaj portal naveo da „potvrda Poreske administracije Kosova omogućava novinarima slobodno kretanje nakon 17 časova, a u opštinama koje su u karantinu od vremena kada je na snazi zabrana kretanja“. U suprotnom, oni krše zakon i rizikuju da budu krivično gonjeni, kazao je Šeholi, a preneo Kosovo Online bez dodatne potvrde iz drugih izvora.
Međutim, predsednica udruženja novinara Kosova demantuje ove navode: “Izjave gospodina Fatmira Šeholija uopšte nisu tačne”.
„Vlada Kosova je više puta saopštila da se ograničenja kretanja ne odnose na novinare i druge medijske radnike, koji obavljaju svoje dužnosti. Pre nekoliko minuta ponovo sam razgovarala sa zvaničnicima kosovske vlade koji su mi potvrdili odluku da novinari mogu da se bave svojom profesijom i da moraju da imaju kod sebe legitimaciju medija u kojem rade“, navela je.
Podsetila je i na saopštenje kosovskog Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova od 24. marta u kome je navedeno da je novinarima i medijskim radnicima, koji sa terena izveštavaju o situaciji u vezi sa epidemijom COVID-19, omogućeno kretanje, a da su u obavezi da kod sebe imaju legitimaciju koju je izdao odgovarajući medij.
„Lično, kao predsednica AGK-a, smatram da je širenje lažnih informacija u trenutku ove pandemije veoma opasno. Mi kao AGK takođe zahtevamo da se novinari ne ometaju u obavljanju službenih dužnosti. Svako opstruisanje obavljanja njihove dužnosti ne šteti samo pravu građana da budu informisani, već šteti i slobodi izražavanja i demokratiji u zemlji“, poručila je Begoli.
Upitana za listu biznisa kojima je, prema uputstvu Poreske uprave Kosova, omogućeno slobodno kretanje popunjavanjem obrasca, Begoli je ponovila da se to odnosi samo na biznise, a ne i na medije.
Novinari: Pokažemo legitimaciju i policija nas pusti
Anđelka Ćup novinarka iz Gračanice objašnjava za CBS da se, zbog prirode novinarskog posla, vrlo često, za vreme zabrane kretanja, nađe na terenu jer prati situaciju u vezi sa korona virusom na celom Kosovu.
“Maska i rukavice su obavezne, a od dokumenata imam samo novinarsku legitimaciju i naravno lična dokumenta, kao i u normalnim okolnostima. Jednom se desilo, 9. aprila, da me zaustavi policija, i odmah posle pregleda novinarske legitimacije, policajac mi je poželeo srećan rad”, kaže Ćup za CBS.
Ona je pitanje o kretanju novinara, ponovo uputila Ministarstvu unutrašnjih poslova. i dobila odgovor koji je objavila na portalu Gračanica Online.
“Iz Kancelarije za informisanje Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova, dobili smo odgovor da se odluka nije menjala i da je novinarima dozvoljeno kretanje širom Kosova, SAMO sa novinarskom legitimacijom, bez ikakvih dodatnih dozvola”, navedeno je u tekstu ovog portala.
Dopisnik Glasa Amerike sa Kosova i novinar Medija centra u Čaglavici, Budimir Ničić, deli slična iskustva objašnjavajući da se njegovo kretanje tokom policijskog časa nije promenilo u odnosu na period pre toga.
“Uvek sa sobom nosim lična dokumenta i novinarsku legitimaciju i nisam imao nikakvih problema. Pre neki dan me je zaustavila policija u vreme policijskog časa i pokazao sam dokumenta i novinarsku legitimaciju i to je bilo to. Takođe i moji novinari i snimatelji se kreću na isti način”, kaže Ničić za naš portal.
Novinar Radio Goraždevca Darko Dimitrijević kaže da mu se, takođe, dešavalo da ga policija zaustavi tokom policijskog časa. Potvrdu da može da se kreće samo uz novinarsku legitimaciju dobio je i od regionalne policije u opštini Peć.
“Imam samo pres legitimaciju Udruženja novinara Srbije, koju pokažem policiji i bez zadržavanja nastavljam svojim putem. Tri puta do sada sam posetio i opštinu Klina, koja je karantinska zona i gde je zabrana ulaska/izlaska na snazi 24/7”, kaže Dimitrijević.
“Za razliku od vas na severu, gde nažalost policija sa političkim motivima, koristeći situaciju, hapsi novinare na radnom zadatku, ja u ovoj situaciji mogu samo da pohvalim rad regionalne policije u Peći, koja je spremna i da nam pomogne da uspešno obavimo novinarski zadatak”, dodaje.
Priča o radu novinara tokom zabrane kretanja dodatno je aktuelizovana nakon privođenja urednice porlata KoSSev iz Severne Mitrovice Tatjane Lazarević. Naime, Kosovska policija je Lazarević privela tokom trajanja zabrane kretanja, a zatim je, nakon sat vremena zadržavanja, i pustila. Na teret joj se stavlja krivično delo “nepostupanje po zdravstvenim propisima u doba epidemije”. Ostalo je nejasno koje propise je Lazarević prekršila jer, kako je navedeno iz portala KoSSev, kod sebe je imala dve legitimacije, nosila masku i rukavice te bila na radnom zadatku.
Podijeljenost Bosne i Hercegovine reflektuje se i na humanitarnom nivou: izabrani politički lideri iz dva bosanskohercegovačka entiteta najglasniji su kada stiže pomoć iz politički njima naklonjenih država, što se odražava i u medijskom izvještavanju. Dok zvaničnici u Republici Srpskoj naglašavaju i medijski eksponiraju pomoć iz „prijateljske“ Rusije i Srbije, u Federaciji BiH najveći publicitet ima pomoć iz Turske. Jednako tako, u Republici Srpskoj nije popularno javno isticati da se traži pomoć od NATO saveza u borbi protiv COVID-19, s obzirom na činjenicu da se zvanična politika tog entiteta, deklarativno protivi evroatlanskim integracijama. Ipak, politički lideri u BiH jedinstveni su u razočarenju prema odluci Evropske unije o ograničenju izvoza medicinske opreme u treće zemlje.
„Ne krijem razočarenje ponašanjem EU prema cijelom regionu, ne samo prema BiH, kada je u pitanju ova pandemija. Cijeli region se opredijelio za evropske integracije, i u tom procesu su mnogi morali da se odriču i nekih drugih parnertstava, jer to nije bilo u skladu s spoljnom politikom EU“, rekao je član Predsjedništva BiH iz reda srpskog naroda Milorad Dodik nakon odluke Evropske unije o ograničavanju izvoza medicinske opreme van Unije. Odluka je došla kao hladan tuš Bosni i Hercegovini, čiji su se predstavnici vlasti konačno složili – makar i u razočarenju prema EU. Predsjedavajući Predsjedništva BiH (iz reda bošnjačkog naroda) Šefik Džaferović diplomatski je ocijenio da ova odluka „ne ide u prilog“ Bosni i Hercegovini.
Kada je riječ o nabavci medicinske opreme za borbu protiv pandemije COVID-19, zvanična pomoć Evropske unije (EU) Bosni i Hercegovini biće sedam miliona eura. Prema podacima Delegacije EU u BIH, time će se omogućiti nabavka 80 respiratora, 7.500 setova za testiranje i 15.000 komada lične zaštitne opreme za medicinsko osoblje.
U sklopu ovog paketa pomoći za hitne medicinske potrebe u BiH, kantonalnim bolnicama u Sarajevu, Mostaru i Tuzli, te Institutu za javno zdravstvo Republike Srpske, krajem marta isporučeno je 2.500 testova na koronavirus, koje je finansirala Evropska unija, a čiju nabavku je osigurao Razvojni program Ujedinjenih nacija (UNDP). Ambasador EU u BiH Johann Sattler najavio je i drugi dio paketa pomoći od pet miliona eura za nabavku medicinske opreme. On je u martu rekao da Evropska unija razmatra i „srednjoročno prilagođavanje i primjenu podrške EU u iznosu do 50 miliona eura za programe ekonomskog razvoja“.
Osim toga, iz Delegacije EU u BiH najavljeno je preusmjeravanje IPA (Instrument za predpristupnu pomoć) sredstava za ublažavanje socioekonomskih efekata pandemije, od čega bi Bosni i Hercegovini pripalo 73,5 miliona eura.
Uprkos odluci EU o ograničenju izvoza medicinske opreme za treće zemlje, pomoć u borbi protiv COVID-19 iz pojedinih članica ipak stiže ili se najavljuje. Ambasador BiH u Kraljevini Norveškoj Nedim Makarević rekao je u razgovoru za Radio Slobodna Evropa da je ta država uputila Bosni i Hercegovini 7,5 miliona kruna (670.000 evra) pomoći koja će se relaizovati preko UNDP-a. Riječ je o medicinskoj opremi, testovima na COVID -19 i respiratorima. Pomoć u vrijednosti 1,8 miliona KM najavljena je i iz Češke Republike, posredstvom tamošnje ambasadorice BiH Martine Mlinarević.
Podijeljenost Bosne i Hercegovine reflektuje se i na humanitrnu oblast, kao i medijsko izvještavanje o njoj. Tako je vijest o pomoći EU Bosni i Hercegovini prošla nezapaženo u medijima Republike Srpske (RS). Mnogo veći publicitet u tom entitetu dobila je pomoć Ruske Federacije i Srbije.
Gotovo svi mediji u RS objavili su vijest da je 9. aprila na banjalučki aerodrom sletio „prvi od tri aviona kojim je dopremljena medicinska oprema Ruske Federacije Republici Srpskoj, za borbu protiv epidemije izazvane koronavirusom“. (citat iz Anadolu Agency)
Rusku pomoć na aerodromu su dočekali najviši zvaničnici RS – član Predsjedništva BiH Milorad Dodik, predsjednica RS Željka Cvijanović i entitetski premijer Radovan Višković.
U javnosti se nije pominjalo kolika je vrijednost pomoći Republici Srpskoj.
„Pomoć je dopremljena u tri aviona, a sastoji se od 5 specijalnih vozila za dezinfekciju, te ispomoći 9 vozača i 15 zdravstvenih radnika koji treba da pomognu lokalnim vlastima u borbi protiv pandemije COVID-19“, navedeno je u saopštenju Ministarstva vanjskih poslova BiH.
Ono što nije objavljeno u medijima RS jeste Zaključak entitetske vlade prema kojem se resorna ministarstva, između ostalog, zadužuju da za potrebe povratka ruskih aviona obezbijede 35.000 litara kerozina koji će biti plaćen iz budžeta RS.
Veliki publicitet u Republici Srpskoj dobila je i pomoć Srbije tom entitetu koja je u Banjaluku stigla krajem marta. Kako je navela Srpska novinska agencija (Srna), ovaj kontigent sastojao se od pet kliničkih i pet transportnih respiratora, 30.000 epidemioloških maski, 2.000 zaštitnih odijela, 200 naočala, 50.000 rukavica, kao i lijekova. Ova humanitarna pomoć popraćena je političkim izjavama čiji je cilj bio da se ponovo istaknu bliski odnosi Republike Srpske i Srbije.
“Ne radi se samo o materijalnim sredstvima koje ćemo dobiti, a koja su veoma važna, nego i o saznanju da Srbija brine o Republici Srpskoj. Kako sam u razgovoru sa predsjednikom Srbije Aleksandrom Vučićem mogao da zaključim i po njegovim riječima – dok je Srbije biće i Republike Srpske i to želim da prenesem svim ljudima i u Republici Srpskoj”, rekao je Dodik za Radio televiziju Srbije.
U Republici Srpskoj manje je prenošena vijest o drugom kontigentu srbijanske pomoći koji se sastoji od 10.000 litara rastvora natrijum hipohlorita, sredstva za dezinfekciju.
Praveći paralelu sa publicitetom koji pomoć iz različitih država ima u dva bosanskohercegovačka entiteta, sličan odjek imala je pomoć Turske Bosni i Hercegovini – u drugom njenom entitetu, Federaciji BiH. Avion vojske Republike Turske dočekao je ministar sigurnosti BiH Fahrudin Radončić a, prema njegovim riječima, pomoć se sastojala od „više stotina tisuća komada rukavica, maski, specijalnih maski i najmanje dvije tisuće testova“.
“Mi još jednom iskazujemo veliku zahvalnost predsjedniku Erdoganu i svim građanima Turske što su danas pokazali solidarnost sa svim građanima BiH”, rekao je Radončić prošle srijede kako prenose mediji u BiH.
Nešto ranije, u martu, Republika Turska je dopremila pomoć Društvu Crvenog krsta/križa BiH u maskama, rukavicama, zaštitnim odijelima i naočalama, u vrijednosti od 52.000 eura. Iako je pomoć Turske namijenjena cijeloj državi, u medijima Republike Srpske vijest o tome nije imala ni približan publicitet.
A kada je riječ o pomoći muslimanskih zemalja Bosni i Hercegovini, islamski vjerski zvaničnici u BiH nisu krili razočarenje.
Ujedinjeni Arapski Emirati u jeku pandemije koronavirusa poslali su pomoć Srbiji, Hrvatskoj i Crnoj Gori, ali ne i Bosni i Hercegovini. Zbog toga je reis Islamske zajednice u BiH Husein Kavazović poručio građanima: „Uzdajte se u Boga i vlastite resurse”, prenosi Deutsche Welle.
Analitičari su istom mediju prokomentarisali da pomoć islamskih zemalja izostaje jer je predsjednik Stranke demokratske akcije Bakir Izetbegović od ranije vezao svoju politiku „za tursku Stranku Pravde i razvoja (AKP) i njenog čelnika Recepa Tayyipa Erdogana“.
Nakon što se Vijeće ministara BiH obratilo za pružanje međunarodne pomoći u borbi protiv koronavirusa, iz Malezije je stigla zvanična nota kojom se pomoć potrvrđuje, a sastojaće se od dva miliona zaštitnih maski. Mediji su izvijestili da je najavljena, iako ne i konkretizovana, pomoć i iz Azerbejdžana.
Da tvrdi politički stavovi omekšaju kada je riječ o pozivima za pomoć, svjedoči i činjenica da je Ministarstvo sigurnosti BiH 2. aprila uputilo zvanični zahtjev za međunarodnu pomoć NATO centru za suzbijanje koronavirusa. Član predsjedništva BiH Milorad Dodik nije stavio veto na ovu odluku iako u javnosti nastoji održati imidž izrazitog protivnika članstva BiH u NATO savezu.
Istovremeno, BiH je uputila zahtjev i Mehanizmu civilne zaštite Europske unije, putem Koordinacionog centra za hitne slučajeve (ERCC – Emergency Response Coordination Centre) s ciljem suzbijanja pandemije koronavirusa (COVID-2019).
Moldovan pop group Sunstroke Projet has adapted their 2017 Eurosong theme “Hey mama” for the purpose of educational video aimed at the pensioners confined in their homes due to COVID-19 epidemic.
The song is in Russian and Romanian, and published as a Youtube video with English subtitles. The clip conveys the main recommendations by the World Health Organization and the state authorities on how citizens should behave during the pandemic, and also sends positive emotional energy towards the elderly, promoting solidarity between generations.
Alongside messages about responsibility, the video indicates that besides using the time at home to play computer games, it’s also good to read books and call relatives and loved ones over the phone.
Sunstroke Project first performed at the Eurovision Song Festival in 2010, with the song “Run Away” performed with Olia Tira. At the time they won the 22nd place out of 39, but the song remained current, with their official video getting over 10 million views on Youtube.
Their performance in Oslo started aninternet meme phenomenon. Sergej Stepanov’s performance of saxophone sole became basis for the “Epic Sax Guy,“anenduringandrecognizablememe, withdozensofversionsandimitators.
Besides the usual short form of caricatures, “Epic Sax Guy” also inspired very long versions и that loop up to 10 hours. Some of them garnered tens of millions of viewsaftersomeinfluentialyoutubersinclludedintheir‘challenges.’
Their web popularity contributed to selecting Sunstroke Project as representatives of Moldova for the 2017 Eurovision contest, with the song “Hey mama” with lyrics in English. The performance again included a sax solo and a new kind of dance moves.
That year the Sunstroke Project reached third place in the competition, the best result Moldova has ever achieved in the contest.
Moldovan government has introduced measures similar to other European countries to hamper the spread of the novel coronavirus, including lock-down and two weeks of self-isolation. The song aimed to encourage the senior citizens to adhere to these measures has been promoted with the hashtag in Russian language #мамадомасиди meaning “mom stay at home.” Russian, alongside Ukrainian and Gaugazian has status of regional official language in Moldova, and is widely spoken by most of the residents, including the majority whose mother language is Romanian.
Jamajka je priznala nezavisnost Kosova – vest koja je juče odjeknula u medijskom prostoru na Kosovu ali i regionu, samo nekoliko sati kasnije ispostavila se netačnom. Mediji su listom preneli ovu vest pozivajući se na objavu na Tviteru kosovskog predsednika, Hašima Tačija, praćenu objavama najviših kosovskih zvaničnika.
Devet sati je trebalo da ministarka spoljnih poslova Jamajke, Kamina Džonson Smit (Kamina Johnson – Smith), na Tviteru demantuje Tačijeve navode – „Do danas Jamajka nije priznala Kosovo kao nezavisnu državu“. Ipak za tih devet sati, medijski prostor bio je preplavljen vestima o priznanju.
Novinarka BIRN-a, Maja Živanović, smatra da je, kada je reč o ovoj temi, i ranije dolazilo do dezinformacija te da je trebalo da mediji pristupe obazrivije i pokušaju da provere Tačijeve navode.
„Razumem da se na taj način gubi na ekskluzivnosti, ali barem ste sigurni da ste svojoj publici pružili istinitu vest. Dakle, u ovom slučaju je trebalo da mediji pokušaju da dobiju dokaz od predsednika Kosova, koji je objavio informaciju, ili potvrdu od vlasti Jamajke“, objašnjava Živanović.
Ipak dodaje da ukoliko mediji žele da budu prvi i ekskluzivni, onda bi trebalo informacijama koje objavljuju državni zvaničnici na društvenim mrežama da pristupe sa ogradom, odosno da ne prenose informacije bez navođenja ko stoji iza određene tvrdnje i da ostave prostor sa sumnju.
Predsedniku Kosova u deljenu ove informacije su se pridružili i drugi najviši kosovski zvaničnici izražavajući zahvalnost ovoj karipskoj državi. Tako je novoizabrani premijer Kosova, Aljbin Kurti naveo da je Jamajka „zvanično priznala nezavisnost Kosova“, ocenivši da to predstavlja „dobar početak 2020. godine za kosovsku diplomatiju i novu vladu“. Predsednica kosovske skupštine Vjosa Osmani poručila je da je ovo bila „ispravna i pravedna odluka“.
Živanović podseća da se na Balkanu dosta priča o lažnim vestima, ali ne i o tome da su izvori dezinformacija često sami političari.
„Stoga, svaka objava nekog političara na društvenim mrežama, baš zbog te kulture da se olako daju izjave i tvrdnje, bi trebalo da se objavljuje sa ogradom i jasno navede ko stoji iza te tvrdnje. I potrebno je kad god je to moguće uraditi činjeničnu proveru informacije, posebno kada je reč o informacijama koje su i pre toga bile predmet osporavanja, neslaganja, ali i informacijama koje su od velikog značaja za javnost, kao što je ova“.
Dodaje da je pored toga, izuzetno bitno da redakcije obuče svoje novinare da prepoznaju lažne naloge na društvenim mrežama koji su stvoreni sa ciljem širenja dezinformacija.
Podsetila je na nedavni slučaj vesti o smrti Ratka Mladića, kada je italijanski novinar namerno plasirao lažnu vest, a mediji na Balkanu je masovno preneli kao tačnu: „BIRN-u je trebalo dodatnih pola sata kako bi objavili ekskluzivnu informaciju – da je vest lažna“.
„Osnovna stvar je proći kroz sve prethodne objave naloga koji se smatra izvorom na društvenim mrežama. Utvrditi da li je kredibilan na osnovu prethodnih objava. Obično tu odmah možete da ‘nanjušite’ potencijalnu zamku. Novinari BIRN-a vrlo često pokušaju da kontaktiraju vlasnika naloga preko privatnih poruka, a u isto vreme potrebno je kontaktirati sve na koje se informacija odnosi i pokušati da se dobije potvrda od drugih strana“, objašnjava.
Koliko država danas priznaje nezavisnost Kosova sporno je pitanje. Dok s jedne strane iz Prištine poručuju da je reč o 116 zemalja, iz Beograda tvrde da je taj broj niži.
Srpsko ministarstvo spoljnih poslova poslednjih godina aktivno radi na sprečavanju priznanja ali i na lobiranju za povlačenje prizanja država koje su prethodno to već učinile. Ministarstvo Republike Srbije do sada je objavilo da je 17 država povuklo prizanje Kosova, a ove objave najčešće su bile praćene tvrdnjama kosovske strane da je reč o lažnim vestima.
Živanović ističe da je ovo pitanje problematično s obzirom na to, kako dodaje, da Vlade nekih od tih zemalja čak nemaju ni svoje stranice na Internetu. „Ono što, međutim, novinari mogu da urade jeste da izvrše veći pritisak na političare Kosova i Srbije da, uz svoje tvrdnje, prilože i zvanična dokumenta kojima će ih potkrepiti. A upravo je to ono što političari izbegavaju da urade sve vreme“.
Danas se postavlja pitanje ko je odgovoran za širenje netačne vesti. Iz kabineta kosovskog predsednika, odgovornost su prebacili na ambasadorku Kosova u SAD, Vljoru Čitaku, navevši da su od nje sinoć dobili obaveštenje koje je takođe dostavljeno i kabinetu kosovskog premijera i Ministarstvu spoljnih poslova, te za dalje informacije uputili na ovo ministarstvo.
Iz ovog ministarstva, s druge strane, opet putem društvenih mreža, oglasio se ministar Glauk Konjufca, potvrdivši da je Čitaku ovu informaciju prosledila putem mejla. Konjufca je dodao i da je u kontaktu sa Ambasadom u SAD kako bi se razjasnila situacija i poručio da će „nakon razmatranja situacije brzo preduzeti korake u skladu sa odgovornostima svakoga“.
„Ono šta znamo je da Jamajka nije poslala zvanično obaveštenje o priznanju Kosova, ostalo je nastavak nezrele spoljne politike Kosova“, smatra analitičar iz Prištine, Špetim Gaši.
Sama Čitaku nije se još uvek oglasila po ovom pitanju.
Izvorne objave kosovskih zvaničnika još uvek su dostupne na Tviteru, sem objave bivšeg ministra spoljnih poslova Bedžeta Pacolija koji ju je zamenio novom – „Hvala u svakom slučaju“.
Thank you Jamaica in any case, thank you Minister @kaminajsmith , thank you USA,@RepEliotEngel
Kosovo and Kosovars will remain forever trusted friends of the government and people of Jamaica pic.twitter.com/GEJdc2hFUi
Damira Gregoret izveštava o politici i spiker je na RTL Hrvatska. U oktobru 2018. godine, njeno ime se pojavilo u udarnim vestima u lokalnim medijima nakon što je tokom konferencije za štampu postavila pitanje hrvatskom premijeru Andreju Plenkoviću na šta je on odgovorio, pokroviteljski: „Baš si slatka, Damira.” Kasnije joj se javno izvinio.
Meta.mk je s njom razgovarao o medijskoj klimi i dezinformacijama u Hrvatskoj u periodu pred predsedničke izbore, koji bi trebalo da se održe 20. januara 2020. godine.
Meta.mk: Da li šira javnost može da repozna lažne vesti i koliko je takvih vesti prisutno u hrvatskim medijima?
Damira Gregoret (DG): U poslednjih pet do šest godina imali smo problema s prepoznavanjem dezinformacija, lažnih vesti. Ipak nisam sigurna kako da nazvovem ovu vrstu vest, tj. da li da nazovemo lažnim one informacije koje novinar prenosi iako nije dovoljno informisan ili zbog nedostatka znanja ili su to ipak dezinformacije. S druge strane, jasno je da su lažne vesti nešto što se objavljuje namerno.
Meta.mk: Ko je glavni izvor lažnih vesti?
DG: Rekla bih da mi u Hrvatskoj nemamo većih problema s lažnim vestima, barem ne u glavnim medijima, ali postoji određeno iskrivljavanje činjenica na marginama medijske scene, što se može okarakterizirati kao lažne vesti. To je nešto što nije postalo glavni problem, jer su glavni mediji u Hrvatskoj, na sreću, još uvek dominantni, ali to bi se svakako trebalo otkriti, i onda bi trebalo preduzeti određene akcije. Pitanje je kako? Mene brinu podaci koji se tiču Srbije i neverovatno je kako se ta država dovela u situaciju u kojoj je sada. Pitanje je možda u vezi zajedničke sinergije, tj. zajedništva koje ne mora nužno biti u okviru jedne države. Novinari bi trebali da budu oprezniji i na kraju, da obaveste više institucija, uključujući Evropsku komisiju.
Meta.mk: Šta je obično tema lažnih vesti u Hrvatskoj?
DG: Migranti, ali opet moram da kažem da se to događa na marginama medijske scene, gde se preteralo s brojem migranata, a s druge strane postojala su upozorenja da su migranti agresivni, i jasno je da se to u određenim slučajevima može dogoditi. Međutim, novinar bi trebao da pokaže pozitivnu diskriminaciju, tj. da ne objavljuje svaku vest koja na osnovu toga može da izazove mržnju.
Sećam se jednog teksta u kojem se spominje da su migranti popalili i opljačkali nekoliko kuća, a tek sledećeg dana iz policije su stigle informacije da je to samo jedna kuća i da ih migranti nisu opljačkali. Na taj način, strah od migranata koji se proširio po celoj Evropi, prisutan je ovde i koristi se za stvaranje lažnih vesti.
Meta.mk: Da li ima reakcija građana, društva, javnosti, institucija?
DG: Nije mi baš lako da objasnim kroz brojeve i činjenice kako svaka od tih grupa reaguje. Mislim da je narod sklon da veruje ovoj vrsti lažnih vesti, jer je to jednostavnije – ljudi se osećaju sigurno unutar granica svoje zemlje u kojoj nema stranaca koji narušavaju red. Ali mislim da treba da postoji odgovornost što se medija tiče i da su mediji ti koji moraju da zauzmu određeni stav i tako otklone te strahove. Svakako, ne tako što ne informišu, već tako što će objasniti ljudima da se u celoj situaciji i dalje morate da se ponašate kao čovek. Trebali bi da se ponašamo humano.
Meta.mk: Molim Vas objasnite nam kako su ta pitanja regulisana u Hrvatskoj – da li postoje posebni propisi koji se odnose na govor mržnje, lažne vesti?
DG: O tome je bilo govora iako mi je teško da zamislim kako bi to bilo regulisano. Sigurna sam da se može naći način. Postoji novinarski kodeks koji u njemu ne spominje nikakve sankcije. Hrvatsko medijsko udruženje je aktivno u ovom domenu, ali samo kao rezerva. Uvek možemo bolje u borbi protiv lažnih vesti i govora mržnje, ali situacija nije alarmantna.
like: educational process, taking exams, socializing, celebrating birthdays, going to disco parties, going to the movies, going on dates with partners, going to summer and winter vacations, doing do sports. etc.
The videos should not be longer than 5 minutes, and the used language can be Macedonian, Albanian or English. Also, the videos do not need to contain speech, i.e. the message can be conveyed through what is shown in the video.
journalists and civil society representatives. The idea, the creativity in the preparation and the strength of the message of the submitted contents will be the most valued aspects.
The UK is investing heavily in vaccine development and is driving forward this unprecedented global collaboration. Investments need to be made early, to ensure that we have the capacity to manufacture and distribute vaccines at scale and at high speed across the globe. A safe and effective vaccine needs to reach every corner of the globe as soon as possible. We must not leave anyone behind.
Following the UK co-hosted Global Coronavirus Response Initiative on 4 May, our Prime Minister will be hosting the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June. This is a virtual event that brings together leaders from around the world to pledge their support to Gavi. We are hoping to raise at least US$7.4 billion to protect a further 300 million more children against infectious diseases like measles, typhoid and polio. It is essential that we can maintain routine immunisation throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we are all able to continue to have our regular online meetings with colleagues, contacts and Ministers. Just this week, Health Minister Venko Filipce and I discussed the importance of vaccines and the steps that the UK and North Macedonia have been taking to control the spread of the disease.
Sunstroke Project first performed at the Eurovision Song Festival in 2010, with the song “Run Away” performed with Olia Tira. At the time they won the 22
