ABSTRACT
The chapter analyzes the instruments and situational factors used by the Kremlin in implementing its public diplomacy in CEE and the Western Balkans. Some of the most common ones employed to enhance Russian influence on the media in the region include: content provision (by organizations or individual journalists); the concentration of advertising (significant market power in managing advertisers’ portfolios and advertising slots); capitalizing on poor journalism and exploiting low trust in media for the generation of fake news/disinformation or anti-European campaigns. Media ownership is an auxiliary and supportive mechanism for exercising Moscow’s power at home and abroad. The Kremlin prefers to engage with local tycoons and oligarchs who exert effective media capture in the respective country through controlling whole media groups and through their close connections to political leaders, lawmakers, and regulators. The chapter provides various statistics and financial ratios as a rationale for non-market goals of Russian-owned companies in some countries.
