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Marko Djuric, the head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo. Photo: BETA

Marko Djuric, the head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, said on Monday that Belgrade will launch the online campaign in the coming months to “spread the truth” about Serbian cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo as well as about the poor conditions in which Serbs are living in the former province.

Djuric said that the Serbian authorities will engage volunteers to promote Belgrade’s viewpoint, after several non-official campaigns were launched against Kosovo’s UNESCO membership in recent weeks.

“It is not enough that people do that spontaneously, it is necessary that the state supports them, and it will be done it in a highly visible and effective way,” he said.

His announcement came ahead of a final vote on Kosovo’s bid to join UNESCO, which will take place in November. Belgrade officials argue that Pristina has failed to protect Serbian cultural heritage, some of which has been destroyed since the end of the war in 1999.

Djuric said that Serbia should emulate Israel’s example of promoting its viewpoint online.

Belgrade’s campaign will be a response to the “attempts of the paid internet warriors to rewrite” Serbian history in Kosovo, he added.

The use of government-sponsored internet activists to influence global public opinion has increased in recent years, with Russia recently accused of operating ‘troll houses’ where employees churn out online comments promoting Moscow’s views on the Ukraine conflict, attacking the West and praising President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

Kosovo has also established its own slick website to advance its claims to UNESCO membership.

Despite Serbia’s opposition, UNESCO’s executive board voted on October 21 to put Kosovo’s bid for membership to a final vote at its general conference in November.

Serbian officials see Kosovo’s UNESCO membership a further step towards recognition of its former province’s independence. However, Serbia has no right to veto Kosovo’s membership bid.

Commenting on UNESCO’s executive board vote, Djuric said on October 21 Belgrade would not stop trying to prevent Pristina from joining the UN cultural body.

“We will continue our diplomatic struggle in the coming days because the battle to stop Kosovo becoming a UNESCO member, no matter how hard it is, is not over yet,” Tanjug news agency quoted him as saying.

Serbian officials say Kosovo cannot protect Serbian cultural heritage since some monasteries and religious objects have already been destroyed.

In ethnic unrest in March 2004, 19 people were killed and more than 800 buildings were destroyed or damaged, including 29 churches or monasteries, according to an OSCE report.

International courts in Pristina have since convicted several people of destroying Serbian Orthodox churches, handing down jail sentences ranging from 21 months to 16 years.

Many of the most significant Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches lie in Kosovo, including the monastery churches of Gracanica and Decani and the Patriarchal complex in Pec/Peje, which are already on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites.