Reporters Without Borders’ attack on Sputnik and RT highlights NGO’s status as ‘media wing of NATO’

Reporters Without Borders’ demands for an EU crackdown on Serbia for hosting Sputnik and RT Balkan bureaus make perfect sense, since the NGO is essentially “a media wing of NATO, a media wing of the collective West,” Institute of European Studies research associate Stevan Gajic told Sputnik.

Gajic’s comments come following the publication of an RSF report accusing Sputnik and RT of spreading “disinformation” and “Kremlin narratives” in the Balkans and beyond. The report was part of a new RSF project launched Monday dubbed ‘The Propaganda Monitor’, a multimedia platform promising to wage a “battle to promote reliable journalism.”

“This is a pure Freudian projection. They are accusing others of what they are doing themselves,” Gajic said of RSF’s “Russian propaganda” claims. “Where were Reporters Without Borders when Radio Television of Serbia was bombed in 1999 and when 16 TV staff were murdered in cold blood?...There is no credibility from people like this who did not act when they should have,” the observer said.

Narratives by RSF and others about Sputnik and RT being threats that need to be silenced have a clear end goal: “to nullify any kind of information coming from the other side to hush, to silence everybody who is not playing along NATO’s narrative. And this is especially a problem for NATO and for these puppet organizations, such as journalists with Reporters Without Borders, during times of war,” Gajic emphasized.

As for RSF claims about RT’s spreading of “Kremlin narratives” in Serbia, Gajic stressed that “pro-Russian sentiment amongst the Serbs has nothing to with the Kremlin, and everything to do with Washington and NATO.”

“Serbs are now more militantly pro-Russian because we were in a war against NATO and actually NATO was conducting and still is conducting hybrid aggression against us. I think that this speaks volumes about the falsehood of the presumptions and of the conclusions [made by RSF, ed.]. You can see how unrealistic and completely detached these people are from the reality, and how they are not really conducting deep research to see what is going on and how come,” Gajic summed up.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Lebanese army has withdrawn troops from several positions along the southern border with Israel, Reuters says, quoting local residents and a security source.

A spokesman for the Lebanese army neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

A US government official told NBC that "Israel has begun probing operations already including small-scale ground missions with their Special Forces" into Lebanon.

The unnamed source added that Israel had also “deployed combat engineers and other troops for missions like breaching.”

The Israeli Defences Forces “currently has about five brigades forward deployed but not all of those are expected to move across the border," the source added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

◻️ Russia celebrates the Day of Reunification with new regions

◻️ What does Reporters Without Borders’ attack on RT and Sputnik highlights mean

◻️ What’s known about US-made bunker buster bomb Israel likely used to target Nasrallah?

◻️ Read about the reasons that explains Austrian ruling coalition’s crushing defeat

◻️ Why US and its corporate interests won’t leave Iraq anytime soon

◻️ What was the daredevil WWII operation by Soviet combat divers about

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Video of alleged clashes between Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbollah near the Israeli-Lebanese border is circulating on social media.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Israeli tanks heard in border areas in southern Lebanon, Al Arabiya correspondent reports

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇨🇳 On September 30, China marks its annual National Day of Remembrance for Fallen Heroes.

President Xi Jinping, the country's leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party, laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square, paying tribute to those who gave their lives for the nation.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

There is no real movement by Israeli forces on the Lebanon border, the ground operation in Lebanon is yet under discussion, Sputnik correspondent in Lebanon reports

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The IDF issues a warning to residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut:

"To all those in the buildings indicated on the specific maps and the buildings adjacent to them in the following neighborhoods:

Lailaki

Haret Hreik

Borj el-Barajneh

You are in the vicinity of the interests and facilities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, and therefore the IDF will act decisively against them.

For your safety and the safety of your family members, you must immediately leave the buildings and move at least 500 meters away from them."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The sounds of two strong explosions erupted in the area of Beirut's southern suburbs, Sputnik correspondent reports

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Hezbollah stated that its fighters targeted Israeli soldiers in a woodlands region near the border

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Video of an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Source: social media

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 The view from the southern suburbs of Beirut right now, Sputnik’s correspondent reports.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Iraqi military base hosting US troops near Baghdad International Airport was attacked by two missiles, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed Iraqi military officials

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Israeli army is currently not conducting offensive actions in Lebanon, preparations are underway at its positions - Sputnik correspondent in Lebanon

The IDF ground troops have not launched an offensive and have not crossed the Blue Line (the Lebanese-Israeli border), according to the correspondent's reports.

Nevertheless, the Israeli army has been carrying out large-scale strikes on the Lebanese capital city of Beirut over the past hours. Explosions have been recorded in areas in the capital's southern suburbs, such as Laylaki, Bourj el-Barajneh and Haret Hreik.

The Israeli artillery training continues in the border areas. Little information is available from these areas due to the evacuation of most civilians and the ban on journalists. Nevertheless, Israel is predicted to move to more extensive ground operations.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt