If we, until now have been talking and writing about Russian propaganda that came to the Macedonian media almost exclusively “via Belgrade”, with the coming to power of Donald Trump in the USA, things have become mixed up, and have taken on a somehow, from the previous point of view, unnatural course, stressed Dragan Mishev, editor in CIVIL Media, on the panel “Disinformation as a Weapon: Countering Disinformation and Hybrid Warfare”, at the conference “Ukraine and the World: Resisting Aggression, Defeating Authoritarianism”.

Now, without any hesitation, Russian propaganda narratives can be conveyed through the statements of high-ranking government officials from yesterday’s main allies, the USA. And at the same time, they have an alibi that they are not in conflict with the common interests of our country and (at least one, but quite significant part of the allies.

Not that classic Russian propaganda has left these regions, I will just give an example of how a certain media outlet spreads the “Russian truth” with a manipulative headline, like when the Baltic countries decided to completely disconnect themselves from the energy system connected to Russia, and thus symbolically sever ties with the former Soviet Union, and Russia as its successor, this Macedonian media outlet came out with the headline “Russia will disconnect the Baltic countries from its electricity system from tomorrow”, which at the very least turns the truth upside down, thus spreading the Russian propaganda narratives that no matter what, Russia wins in the end, and the enemies will be punished.

In addition to reporting statements from the mouths of Donald Trump, JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, which seem to have been written by the Kremlin’s top propagandists, the Macedonian media outlets widely broadcast the “analyses” and the comments of Jeffrey Sachs and Tucker Carlson, and their ilk, already exposed once and until recently pointed out as an example of discredited Americans in the service of Moscow who with the arrival, or rather, the return of Donald Trump to the head of the United States, are now becoming mainstream analysts for transmitting the “truth” about the Russian war in Ukraine, in the Macedonian media.

The main points of the spread of Russian propaganda in the Macedonian media, but also more broadly in the region, are the Russian narratives that emerged from the statements and false accusations of the US president that Ukraine started the war in Ukraine, and especially Trump’s statement was shared in which he called Ukrainian President Zelensky a dictator. For long-time defenders of the character and work of Russian dictator Putin, this came as an “ace of spades,” proclaiming it a major victory for their previous claims, copy-pastes of Russian propaganda narratives, that Russia did not attack Ukraine, and was only defending itself from the West, the Anglo-Saxons, and NATO.

And if until now, these narratives have always been at the expense of the “bad Americans” led by Biden, now we have an unnatural situation in which the previous Putinists and racists are becoming big Trumpists, and America is suddenly becoming great again. Now Western Europe and NATO are the “arch-enemies” of the Russian world, and Trump is a “good guy” who just needs to get the United States out of NATO.

And here we come to the second point of the “new normal” of Russian propaganda, which is the attacks on USAID, for years a thorn in the side of Russian dictators, which are now being helped from within, with frozen funds, with which democratic movements and free media, fact-checkers and debunkers of Russian disinformation and malicious Russian narratives, have been left with their hands tied in the face of the maximally intensified Russian proxy players and pro-Russian, and now also pro-Trump, or pro-MAGA media.

A real hunt, or rather a witch hunt, is taking place in the media and on social networks. In these areas, names of beneficiaries of foreign aid from USAID are being brought up, baselessly accused of malfeasance and embezzlement of American taxpayers’ money, citing the statements of the “first lady of the United States” and Putin’s megaphone, Elon Musk. Almost without exception, such DOGE/Kremlin narratives are spread by media outlets reinforced by social media bots, which are directly or indirectly under the umbrella of the ruling party in North Macedonia, whose prime minister rejected the EU-backed Ukrainian resolution at the UN condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine, and became a co-sponsor of Trump’s relativizing resolution.

Of course, the truth is once again being manipulated and the information that the beneficiaries of USAID grants are not only the government and some of the mayors of VMRO-DPMNE, but also directly the party itself while it was in opposition in 2020, as well as the former prime minister from its ranks, the fugitive in Budapest, Nikola Gruevski.

Camera and editing: Arian Mehmeti