In a move that has sent ripples of incredulity through the journalistic community, Deutsche Welle (DW), the German state-owned broadcaster, has seemingly decided to take a leaf out of the Kremlin’s playbook, pandering to the interests of Serbia’s autocratic regime under the guise of journalistic integrity. This disgraceful turn of events not only tarnishes the reputation of DW but also highlights a troubling shift in Germany’s foreign policy, one that betrays the very democratic values it purports to uphold.

DW’s recent editorial policy, as evidenced by their piece on alleged Islamic extremism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a blatant service to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s propaganda machine. By painting a picture of rising Islamic extremism in the Balkans, DW plays directly into Vucic’s narrative of a ‘Serbian World’—an eerie echo of Putin’s ‘Russian World’ that has brought nothing but bloodshed and turmoil.

The timing of DW’s article, just a day before German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Serbia to ink a controversial lithium deal, is suspect at best and complicit at worst. It’s as if DW, in a fit of misguided loyalty or perhaps under some insidious directive, chose to divert attention from the environmental and human rights concerns surrounding the lithium project. Instead of holding power to account, DW appears to be aiding and abetting a regime that flirts with Russia and China, tramples on democratic norms, and suppresses dissent with an iron fist.