PUBLICATION: Study
MADE AT HOME: Political Elites and Media Narratives on the Ukraine War in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina
The war in Ukraine has reverberated across the Western Balkans in ways that reflect the region’s own political dynamics more than the influence of any external actor, including Russia. In Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, media coverage and public narratives surrounding the conflict have been shaped primarily by domestic political realities, local media structures, and long-standing identity divides.
Although such narratives often resemble or parallel themes associated with Russian state messaging, evidence shows that their origins and functions are fundamentally homemade. Rather than being targets of Russian influence or passive conduits for it, political and media elites across the region selectively draw on, adapt, and repurpose these narratives to serve their own pragmatic and opportunistic agendas.
This study relies on a comprehensive dataset generated by the AI-driven analytics company PIKASA (Skopje, North Macedonia), which examined media outputs across three countries from 2022 to 2025, with detailed monitoring during January–June 2025. Using its proprietary platform, PIKASA analysed reporting from the top 50 media outlets in each state, identifying narrative clusters, sentiment shifts, thematic peaks, and cross-border dissemination. This dataset offers a structured basis for examining how narratives emerged, intensified, and circulated within tightly interconnected but politically diverse media spheres.
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