Russian news agency launches broadcast in Serbian

(MENAFN) RT has officially launched its Serbian-language broadcasting channel, RT Balkan, from Belgrade, offering news, analysis, interviews, and documentaries to Serbian-speaking audiences. This comes after the successful introduction of the RT Balkan multimedia portal in 2022, which gained significant popularity in the region.

RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan expressed her joy over the debut, praising the channel’s resilience in the face of sanctions and censorship. Despite these challenges, Simonyan celebrated the channel’s ability to broadcast in Serbia, a country where, according to her, freedom of speech still exists, in contrast to the West.

Jelena Milincic, RT Balkan’s Editor-in-Chief, thanked Serbia and Russia's politicians for enabling the launch, despite intense Western pressure to block it. The channel’s programming will include its flagship show, Relativizacija, hosted by Ljiljana Smajlovic, with a special appearance by filmmaker Emir Kusturica during the inaugural broadcast.

Western governments, including the US and EU, have attempted to prevent RT Balkan's launch, urging Serbia to align with EU sanctions against Russia. However, Serbia has maintained a neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rejected pressure to sanction Moscow.

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