Allen: Russia seeks chaos, division of Western Balkans

US Undersecretary of State for Diplomacy and Public Affairs Elizabeth Allen said that the United States is working with partners worldwide to identify the problems dezinformation and foreign malicious influence pose for states.

“We see this as a threat to national security. We see this as a political area that needs cohesive solutions around it, and thus the United States has drafted a framework for opposing malicious foreign influence, and that includes some ways in which governments can work together to address this dezinformation and malicious foreign influence problem”, Allen said in Rubik of Kosovo.

Allen said that the Understanding Agreement, which he signed with President Osmani on Sunday against manipulation of information by foreign states, increases the ability to analyse the disinformation avours.

It increases our mutual capacity to find solutions against deinformation from the policy point of view. These include civil society, because no discussion to fight deinformation and malicious foreign influence is complete if we talk only about actions government can take, but also support independent media, ensuring that we have fact control, truly ensuring that the academic world, media, civil society and the government are all working together to deal with this”, Allen said.

The deputy secretary added that Russia is not interested in a free and prosperous region.

“They are seeking to sow chaos and divisions and discourage democratic progress, and thus part of the Understanding Agreement we signed today includes efforts to strengthen democratic principles, increase trust in institutions and fight those campaigning of the malicious foreign influence”, Allen said.