The political and economic elite in Serbia are in a strong vassal relationship with the Kremlin. Anticipating the entry into force of US sanctions against NIS-Gazpromneft, primarily for disregarding domestic legislation (Article 58 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia) and placing the economic fate of Serbian citizens in the hands of Kremlin lawyers, the executive branch in Serbia continues to promote individuals recognized by the international public as pro-Russian propagandists. One of the most recent examples is the list of individuals who were awarded high honors by President Aleksandar Vučić for the national holiday of the Republic of Serbia, Sretenje, on February 15, 2025:
– Hierodeacon Ignatius Shestakov (b. 1974) – Иеромонах Игнатий Шестаков of the Russian Orthodox Church on behalf of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, was awarded the Third Degree of the Order of Sretensky of the Republic of Serbia in February 2025. As a hieromonk of the Russian Orthodox Church, he edits the internet portal Pravoslavie.Ru (https://pravoslavie.ru), which, along with its Serbian version (Pravoslavie.Ru – Serbian version, https://srpska.pravoslavie.ru/), projects pro-Kremlin soft power onto the territory of Serbia.
– Igor Yurievich Korotchenko (b. 1960) – Игорь Юрьевич Коротченко: a recipient of the Order of the Serbian Flag, Third Class, of the Republic of Serbia in February 2025. A military analyst and the editor-in-chief of the journal National Defense (Национальная оборона – https://oborona.ru/). He is very close to the authorities in the Kremlin. As a well-known propagandist, he has been on the Western sanctions list for some time.
– Roger Köppel (b. 1965), recipient of the Golden Medal of Merit of the Republic of Serbia. He is the editor-in-chief of the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche (https://weltwoche.ch/), a pro-Kremlin propaganda outlet. In addition, Roger Köppel is actively involved in spreading the national-revisionist narrative of the so-called “Serbian World” regarding the Kosovo issue, in promoting autocracy in Serbia and Europe more broadly, and in maintaining close ties with Hungarian President Viktor Orbán. That the issue of pro-Kremlin propaganda transcends ethnic and religious lines is further demonstrated by the fact that one of Die Weltwoche’s contributors is Beqë Cufaj (1970), a writer and former Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo to Germany.
– Harald Vilimsky (b. 1966), recipient of the Order of the Serbian Flag, First Class, of the Republic of Serbia. He is the head of the Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) in the European Parliament. He is particularly engaged in opposing further sanctions against the Russian Federation and in obstructing additional aid to Ukraine in its defense against aggression. He also promotes the Serbian national-revisionist narrative concerning Kosovo.
This brief analysis is also a public call to citizens of appropriate integrity, as well as to other recipients of the Sretenjeaward of the Republic of Serbia for 2025, to publicly declare that they do not accept their names being associated in any way with propagandists of Russia’s neo-fascist aggression against Ukraine.
For all the individuals mentioned above, the NIFA organization holds detailed biographies, including information on their connections not only with the authorities in Belgrade but also with various pro-Russian organizations active within the so-called “Serbian World.”