Disinformation and propaganda targeting Kosovo after the war have contributed to its slower economic development and green transition compared to other countries in the region.
As a post-war country under international security supervision, Kosovo was expected to become an attractive zone for foreign investment but has struggled to do so amid persistent disinformation campaigns about its land and natural resources.
Disinformation narratives, mainly originating in Serbia and Russia, have sought to undermine the establishment of Kosovo’s institutions since 1999. Beyond that, Serbia has not even recognised Kosovo’s independence declared on February 17, 2008, despite it having been ruled in accordance with international law by the International Court of Justice in 2010. This has severely damaged potential investors’ confidence in Kosovo, which has not yet been able to reach the same level of economic development as other countries in the region.
Economic growth in Kosovo is expected to reach 3.8 percent in both 2025 and 2026.
Growth will be supported by increased consumption and investment. However, according to the World Bank’s spring 2025 report, economic uncertainty, especially regarding global trade, persists.
An investigation by KALLXO.com, aired on October 31, 2025, highlighted the testimonies of people working in different areas—including in the government, diplomacy, and business—who, for more than two decades, have observed up close how foreign propaganda has hindered Kosovo’s economy.
Kosovo remains the poorest country in the region, with a large trade deficit and low employment, despite having lower levels of corruption and ranking better than most of the region in rule of law, media freedom, and democracy. International interest and donor support are high but Kosovo has never managed to attract substantial foreign investment in its economic development.
“Shattered expectations” of privatization
The democratic transformation enabled the former Yugoslav entities to privatize their economies and restart former socialist enterprises, but, nearly three decades after the war, several of Kosovo’s former industrial giants have either shifted their business activities, gone bankrupt, or become a burden on the state after failing to attract international investment.
Haki Shatri, former Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2008, vividly recalls the high expectations for the privatization process.
“People believed that if we entered this transitional phase—mainly through privatization—the funds generated from the process would be reinvested into the economy and create a new financial base for production and economic development,” Shatri told KALLXO.com, adding that existing enterprises would be reactivated and revived.
The UN interim administration in Kosovo, UNMIK, began transitioning the economy from state-owned to privatized in 2000, but the process was blocked by Serbia until 2005.
Kosovo’s privatization process officially began in 2003 under the Kosovo Trust Agency, KTA, and was later transferred to the Kosovo Privatization Agency, KPA, in 2008.
Millions of euros were invested to promote the sale of Kosovo’s enterprises, but even advertisements in world-renowned magazines were not enough. Driven by Russia and supported by Serbia, the process was immediately targeted by propaganda, with constant misattributions of Kosovan state property to Serbia discouraging international investors.
Bernard Nikaj, former Kosovo ambassador to Belgium from 2016 to 2020, and Minister of Trade from 2013 to 2014, recalled that, “this definitely scared away serious investors from European Union countries who had an interest in Kosovo companies. As a result, most of those factories never became operational.”
Many of the properties put up for sale were also purchased by local businessmen who failed to restore the economy’s credibility.
Bujar Dugolli, Minister of Trade and Industry from 2004 to 2008, believes Kosovo’s economy could not recover because of its undefined political status.
“No foreign or domestic investor could continue investing if the future of those enterprises was not certain. From 2002 to 2005, you could say the situation was stagnant and nothing could be done,” Dugolli said.
According to Mimoza Kusari-Lila, who entered politics in 2003 and is now a member of parliament with Vetevendosje, when she was Minister of Industry from 2011 to 2013, the disinformation was exclusively related to Kosovo’s status. She vividly remembers Serbia’s continued efforts to present Kosovo as a territory without status, where investment would be risky.
In her view, the Serbian pretense of “the ownership of strategic assets and some companies—whether social enterprises or part of the KPA and joint-stock companies… [which] would be contested in the near future” created fear and uncertainty, naturally blocking investors from coming to Kosovo.
Kusari-Lila said that the first disinformation campaign against Kosovo came in the form of letters sent directly from Serbia to all the companies interested in investing in Kosovo.
“The response to Serbia’s letters, directed at investors, came from the U.S. State Department. The State Department replied regarding Kosovo’s status, asset ownership in Kosovo, and project security, and in some way, acted as guarantees for investors willing to come to Kosovo,” she said.
Nikaj added that, witout these obstacles, Kosovo’s privatization process could have achieved much better results. He told KALLXO.com that disinformation significantly impacted the quality of investments the country attracted, because companies prefer not to face political problems, border issues, neighbor disputes, property disputes, or other challenges.
Trepça mine. Photo: BIRN
A simple online search returns disinformation claiming Kosovo’s enterprises were owned by Serbian companies and shareholders. Serbian government officials repeatedly claimed that Kosovo companies carried high debts in Serbian banks, and anyone who bought them would also take on high debts.
Such fake news included claims that Trepça mining complex was a debt-laden Serbian company, or that the Ujmani Lake, one of Kosovo’s main water sources, is a Serbian property.
Visar Prebreza, editor of BIRN Kosovo’s factchecking platform Krypometri, explained that any researcher following disinformation clearly sees that its purpose is to reduce trust in processes, Kosovo’s privatization process in this case.
“Domestic investors were [also] discouraged by the pressure and propaganda from people who had seized the properties and did not hesitate to intimidate the few domestic investors,” he says.
According to Prebeza, Russian and Serbian propaganda “first portray the region as a zone of crisis and conflict; second, as an unfavorable zone for investment.
“In the last 50 days alone, Kremlin propaganda has spread 353 disinformation articles,” he said, referencing the KALLXO.com investigation.
Unfair competition for local producers
Land plowing. Photo: BIRN
After the war, Kosovo’s local producers faced difficulties competing in the market because of claims that Kosovar products were of poor quality, unsafe for consumption, and could not compete with international goods.
Burim Piraj, owner of the Meka meat processing company, operating since 1992, says that if conditions had been slightly different in the past two decades, local companies could have grown much larger.
According to him, “persistent propaganda made people hesitant to buy local products. This led the local consumers to pay significantly more for imported goods than for domestic products. They always wanted local products to be at least 20–30% cheaper to be affordable to the local consumer, and this greatly hindered our development, because without a good profit margin a company cannot grow.”
Berat Rukiqi, former president of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, from 2018 to 2022, said that, “attacks came from North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro—the closest markets we have. And in some of these markets, when our products gained a foothold or introduced competition, the attacks intensified. There was a clear pattern; you could observe it.”
Although disinformation was continuously combated, he claims competition was uneven, making it difficult for local producers to establish themselves in the market.
Piraj adds that media, sometimes sponsored or collaborating, presented Kosovar products as unsafe, low quality, or unreliable.
“There was massive propaganda around any Kosovar product that may have expired or been defective,” he said.
Veli Halimi, owner of the Sharri dairy company since 2001, says that locals still believe imported products are of a higher quality than locally produced ones.
“They still don’t know how developed our local production is… We can only inform them via television but TV [crews] visit us rarely,” he emphasized.
Halimi also notes that after the war, there were claims that Kosovo’s dairies only used powdered milk.
“The sources vary, mostly it was importers of foreign products. Every foreign country bringing goods to Kosovo has Kosovar importers. Their gain is to sell as much as possible,” he explained.
Ramiz Kelmendi, director of the wholesale retailer ELKOS and former Deputy PM, stressed that there were no flaws in local production that would justify claims that domestic products are below international standards.
“And let’s not forget, in terms of international standards the technology is a century ahead, but [despite not always having the latest technology] health and food safety [in Kosovo] is sufficient,” he says.
Moreover, agriculture was heavily impacted after thousands of media reports falsely claimed that, “the land was poisoned by pollution and NATO bombing residue,” spreading the narrative that the area was polluted and its products unsafe for consumption.
Prebreza, notes that, “it’s very strange, everyone has denied this report, but it remains online.”
Conspiracies around global warming
Windmill park in Kosovo. Photo: BIRN
As the most pro-EU-integration country in the region, Kosovo has also been a target of disinformation regarding this process, often driven by the narrow economic interests of specific groups. Conspiracies around global warming, denial of climate change, and portraying green economy investments as worthless are some of the disinformation narratives aimed at undermining Kosovo’s European-oriented economic development.
Viktor Berishaj, environmental policy expert, says that the effects of global warming are increasingly felt, but disinformation claiming it doesn’t exist comes from companies whose profits depend on fossil fuel extraction, processing, and trading.
“They are part of a system that is financially very strong, with funds to spend on lobbying and disinformation,” he says.
Conspiracies around global warming and disinformation discrediting the green economy also create room for mistakes in strategic planning.
Linda Çadvarbasha, environmental activist and former Deputy Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning, and Infrastructure MESPI (2021-2023), believes that global warming conspiracies benefit those who do not want to invest in the environment, like major industrial investors in thermal power plants, who reject climate change as a conspiracy. She concludes that investment in Kosovo’s environment is not prioritised, and not enough people believe environmental issues impact their lives significantly.
Avni Mazreku, external advisor at MESPI noted that media and social platforms are used to spread false information.
“We have conspiracies claiming that, for example, solar panels cause cancer or are harmful due to radiation. Some groups have no specific interest but hold absurd beliefs, which then creates a cascade effect on thinking,” he added.
According to Berishaj, in a globalized world, the power of states is sometimes overestimated compared to that of the corporations and conglomerates in control of natural resources.
“The level of economic development shows how much space there is for disinformation about climate change, especially in countries that are underdeveloped or still developing, where the focus is on survival and the economy,” he explained.