Jarinje, target for Russian propaganda, Kosovo police bring two journalists back

None of them have been allowed entry and turned back, let Kosovo's sources know

Since the Kosovo Republic's measures of reciprocity for Serbia's license plates have begun, the Russians have been constantly involved at this border point.

While Serbian Boris Malagurski is known to take part in any regional crisis, reporting unilaterally for Russian state television RT (Russia Today), Elnar Bainazarov of “Izvestia” in countries where there are crises or wars and accredited by the Kremlin Foreign Ministry.

Even journalists who tried to enter Kosovo, in the first days of the blockade in the north, were from “Izvestia”. At least that's how Russian media declared their ban.

KosovoPress has been reportedly not one of these has been allowed into Kosovo's territory.

In a status on his Facebook page, Malagurski posted a photo showing him reporting in front of the camera, while in the background he has a borderpoint.

Direct to Jarinje! For Russian state television RT I am talking about tensions between Belgrade and Pristina, we are extending the truth to the world public”, Malagurski has said.

On the other hand, Elnar Bainazarov is currently working as special correspondent for the Russian newspaper “Izvetia” and member of Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry press group. In August 2020, he was arrested in Belarus while reporting protests from the capital, Minsk, while after his arrest he was expelled from Belarus.

Bainazarov works as a war reporter, mainly in areas of civil unrest and military operations in the Middle East and former countries of the Soviet Union. Elnar is a graduate of Moscow State University, and holds a MA title in Middle Eastern Studies and speaks Arabic, Turkish and German.

Bainazarov, over the last two days, has posted information on his social networks that he is headed to the border point in Jarinje. In one of them, he has said that “Elnar will see another tense spot on the map of the world. We are going to the border of Serbia and Kosovo, we will follow and show you all the more interesting things. Read the reports on Izvestia”.

Regarding the added “interest” of Russian journalists, Kosova Preris has taken the opinion of security expert Agim Musliu, who has said that this is the typical game of Russian hybrid war, which is already known for the entire Western Balkan region.

Besides the Russian weapons of Vuciki; the Russian ambassador to Belgrade, who visited the border point; the prorus Serbs that some of them are protesting, who are also playing the role of proxietes, the interest of Russian media journalists meets the hybrid war mosaic they have been conducting for many years in the Western Balkans, and the wider”, Musliu has said of Kosovas.

According to him, there are several cases when Russians working for their various secret services are disguised as journalists.

“The intelligence agencies of Western countries had warned that media organisations should not be excluded from external intervention laws, because Russian services would recruit journalists to exploit their gaps”, security expert Agim Musliu added.