NIFA announces a joint Vatnik Soup with Pekka Kallioniemi, a Finnish expert on social
media and disinformation focusing mostly on pro-Russian disinformation.
We introduce a Serbian academic, Ratko Ristić (b. 1961). He’s best known for engaging in pro-Kremlin, ultranationalist politics and propaganda while undermining business ties between Serbia and the EU.
Serbia, along with Belarus, remains Russia’s staunchest European ally amid its aggression against Ukraine. Not only have they refused to impose sanctions, but Serbia has also become a regional disinformation hub, destabilizing the wider region.
Beyond foreign malign influence, Serbia’s nationalist-revisionist regime – rooted in the 1990s – has aligned with Russia’s aggressive, anti-liberal nationalist bloc. Serbian far-right groups are also well-known supporters of Russian imperialism.
Ratko Ristić is a professor at the University of Belgrade (UB), working in the Faculty of Forestry. His expertise in forestry has apparently made him a “geopolitical expert,” and he’s well known in Serbian media for his staunch anti-Western, revisionist views.
As UB’s vice-rector for international activities, Ristić has been pressured to cut ties with Russian institutions. But this hasn’t stopped him – he still attended the Kremlin-backed Nevsky Forum in June 2024.
Ristić hasn’t hidden his close ties to Russian politicians. In Aug 2024, he visited Russia with the group “We – Power of the People” to meet State Duma members Sergey Glazyev and Sergey Baburin. Glazyev was one of the funders of the pro-Kremlin protests in Ukraine in 2014.
For years, he has argued against sanctions on Russia, claiming Serbia should distance itself from “Western values.” He also ran on pro-Russian extremist election lists in 2023 (“Nationalist Gathering”) and 2024 (“We – Power of the People”).
Ristić has actively participated in pro-Kremlin events. In Dec 2024, he was a main speaker at an event by “Doctors and Parents for Science and Ethics,” (man there’s a lot of irony in that name) a Serbian anti-vaxxer conspiracy group.
Serbia is full of extremist pro-Kremlin media outlets – even paramilitary groups. Ratko loves them. He publicly supports Dejan Petar Zlatanović (owner of disinformation media channel Srbin Info) and Damnjan Knežević (leader of the hooligan group People’s Patrols).
Ratko’s vatnik-y activism also includes spreading nonsense about NATO. His favorite false claim is that NATO “intentionally” used depleted uranium bombs in 1999 to cause “long-term negative health effects” on Serbian citizens.
As is tradition, Ristić attacks those exposing Kremlin propaganda. He co-signed a petition against Serbian journalist/activist Dinko Gruhonjić, labeling him both “racist” and “neofascist.”
Paradoxically, Ristić gained popularity among Serbia’s so-called “pro-Western opposition” for opposing a lithium mine project in Jadar. As director of UB’s Environmental Protection Committee, he was often quoted by Serbian media.
The Jadar lithium deposit, discovered in 2004, could supply 90% of Europe’s lithium needs. Geopolitically, Russia and China don’t want Serbia growing closer to the West – especially since Jadar may hold Europe’s largest lithium reserves.
This aligns with the global mineral wars – while the US eyes rare earth minerals in Greenland, Canada, and Ukraine, China is securing other sources. Since 2004, Serbia has become a hotspot in this conflict.
Ristić has led a disinformation campaign against the Jadar project, claiming Germany wants to turn Serbia into a “mining colony” for its auto industry and that the mine would cause irreversible environmental damage.
Along with colleagues from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), Ristić has spread disinformation about Jadar across Serbian media, boosting his popularity among Serbian citizens.
Ristić and others have exploited Serbian fears about the environment while staying mostly silent on the severe environmental damage caused by Chinese and completely silent on Russian mining projects elsewhere in Serbia.
Despite being promoted by Serbian media as an “expert opposition” to Serbia’s pro-Russia government, Ristić subtly serves Russian interests while actively fueling anti-EU sentiment.
X thread on Ratko Ristić: https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1900530145024209295
Bsky thread on Ratko Ristić: https://bsky.app/profile/vatniksoup.bsky.social/post/3lkdll2eyrk2m