It is not true that Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) was еxactly pro-Russian
Social network posts claim the alleged closeness of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) with Russia. Although Kuchma tried to sustain normal relations with Russia, his foreign policy was far from being pro-Russian, especially since the country officially expressed interest in becoming a NATO member...
“Donbas. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” – a documentary in the tradition of Kremlin’s best propaganda
Тhe Russian Embassy in North Macedonia recently shared the documentary Donbas. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (2021) on Facebook. The documentary uses a common manipulation technique - presenting the historical sequence of events in a way that confuses the audience as to who “started it”...
(INTERVIEW) Nikolovski: Russian Church Players in MOC-OA Imposed Fake Public Topics
Three months have passed since the public found out that Marjan Nikolovski, editor, journalist, and owner of the portal “Religija.mk” was summoned by the Ecclesiastical Court of Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-OA) for his alleged dissemination of hatred among believers and the leadership...
Disinformation surrounding the project of the first regional landfill: Neither medical nor hazardous waste will be incinerated in Sveti Nikole
No type of waste will be burnt in the regional landfill in village Meckuevci in the Municipality Sveti Nikole. The facility, that should represent the first landfill fulfilling European standards in the country, will have just two installations for secondary selection of paper, plastic,...
Without the support of fact-checkers we give up defending democracy
P“It’s our responsibility and the duty of state institutions and all stakeholders to speak out when fact-checkers are threatened and do all we can to provide a safe daily working environment for them”, said the EU Ambassador, David Geer at the opening of the...
International Fact-Checking Day marked with regional Conference – Defending Democracy in the Balkans: Safeguarding Information Integrity in the Digital Era
On April 2, International Fact-Checking Day, the Metamorphosis Foundation and the Anti-Disinformation for the Balkans organized a Regional Conference on the topic: “Defending Democracy in the Balkans: Safeguarding Information Integrity in the Digital Era”.
The conference was attended by experts from the region and beyond...
Disinformation significantly enhanced during election campaigns
“Democracy at Risk: Elections in the Age of Disinformation” was the title of the second session of the regional conference of the Anti-disinformation Network for the Balkans on the occasion of marking International Fact-Checking Day. Activists and journalists from the region shared experiences related...
Russia’s Destructive Disinformation Igniting American Political Scene
Key witness in the impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden, regarding the alleged receipt of bribes from an Ukrainian company through his son Hunter Biden, initiated by a Republican politician from the US House of Representatives, apparently did not tell the truth when sharing...
Russian Agents Cloaked in Mantles of the Macedonian Orthodox Church
Putin’s regime is using the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) for spreading influence in Orthodox countries. The ROC is exerting enormous pressure on other churches and preventing the recognition of autocephaly status the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC). By means of intelligence actions, Russian priests are...
A youth-centered workshop on countering disinformation and fact-checking was held in Veles
More than a dozen young people from North Macedonia took part in the second workshop as part of the “Journalism for the New Generation” program on the subject of “Countering Disinformation and Fact Checking” which took place from March 13 to 15 near Veles....
(INTERVIEW) Maliukevičius: The Russian influence is trying to weaken us and make us look away from Ukraine
Initially, I thought that the goal of the Russian influence operations was to create a kind of sympathy for the Russian regime and Russian ideology. But their main target now is simply to create more chaos inside the neighboring countries in order to kind...
Moscow doesn’t like the Prespa apples and it finds Ecuadorian bananas tastier than the Indian
If the pressure from Russia was not that obvious in the Macedonian case with the banned imports of apples from Prespa, the example of Ecuador was pretty straightforward. By skillfully manipulating the business sector, the pressure put on the Ecuadorian leadership hit success and...
Navalny’s death overshadowed Moscow’s disinformation on the military campaign in Ukraine
Despite this February marking the second anniversary since the start of Ukraine’s suffering at the hands of Russian aggression, which has resulted in thousands of casualties and never-ending destruction of everything significant for Ukraine and Ukrainians, Moscow’s disinformation campaign in regard to its military...
Emotional ties and propaganda: The Russian “Soft power” in the Balkans
Russian media Sputnik and RT (Russia Today) Balkans operating in Serbia, are used as propaganda tools by Putin’s Russia and represent Russian “soft power” in the region. This propaganda from Moscow, disseminated through the contents published by both Russian media outlets and republished by...
The World Health Organization is not killing children in Gaza
Phото: who.int
It is not true that the World Health Organization is killing children in Gaza. On the contrary, WHO representatives are constantly delivering medical and non-medical aid to Gaza, where hospitals have been demolished and conditions for medical treatment are dreadful. WHO collects donations...
Truthmeter’s response to the latest disinformation campaign against their website and newsroom
What can be noted from this disinformation campaign – just like in the previous ones – is the lack of argumentation on the side of those attacking, related to possible errors, oversight, or inaccuracy expressed by Truthmeter’s editorial staff to justify the criticism and...
No other solution for the whooping cough but the vaccine
Children who haven’t been vaccinated should not go to kindergartens if we want to avoid epidemics that threaten the health and life of both children and seniors. This is the position of the epidemiologists who insist on vaccinating the population, in compliance with the...
It “stinks” when 800 million euro strategic investments are approved in a fast procedure
The public in North Macedonia is stunned by the recent debate regarding the legal framework of four strategic investments in the energy sector worth approximately 800 million euros, not by its merit, but by the merit of the Government. Investment intentions were expressed by...
From Alaska via Putin and Moscow to the Balkans and finally to North Macedonia
PHOTO: Collage: Vladimir Putin, screenshot/YoutTube; map of Alaska, public domain
Facebook posts are spreading disinformation regarding Putin’s latest decree according to which Alaska, the Baltic countries, Tibet, and other territories that historically belonged to the USSR and Imperial Russia will be retrieved back. The fake...
The alleged Nazism in Kyiv still the subject of Russian disinformation
Several disinformation narratives have prevailed this year in the Macedonian-language online space and media – from Ukraine’s “statehood being at stake” should the war continue, to the claim that Zelenskyy has lost popularity. The most consistent disinformation narrative, however, concerns the connection between Kyiv...
