Regional Conference on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference and Disinformation

06.05.2026

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Regional Conference on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and Disinformation

REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON FIMI AND DISINFORMATION

📅 6–7 May 2026
📍 Science and Technology Park, Podgorica (Day 1: Conference Hall Unicorn, II floor; Day 2: MVP Conference Room, II floor)

Held under the Chatham House Rule, the conference explores how governments and societies can anticipate (prebunk), prevent, and respond (debunk) to malign information operations. Filming and recording is allowed only in the opening session. The preparation of this conference is supported by the Atlantic Council of Montenegro.

Conference programme:

DAY 1 – Wednesday, 6 May 2026

🕘 09:00 – 09:30 | OPENING REMARKS

Objectives, Chatham House Rule, Expected Outcomes

Conference host: Ms. Vanja Madzgalj, Senior Project Manager, WB3C

Speakers:

Mr. Gilles Schwoerer, WB3C
Mr. Filip Ivanović, PhD, Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Government of Montenegro
Mr. Emanuele Giaufret, Deputy Managing Director - Western Europe, European External Action Service (EEAS)
Mr Cosmin Dobran, Director for Peace, Partnerships and Crisis Management, European External Action Service (EEAS)

🕤 09:30 – 10:15 | KEYNOTE ADDRESS

FIMI as a National Security and Governance Challenge

How foreign influence exploits governance gaps — a historical reflection and how states respond without undermining freedoms.

Speaker: Mr. David Colon, PhD, Associate Professor, Sciences Po, France

🕥 10:15 – 11:15 | CASE STUDY

Anatomy of Disinformation Operations: Case Study and Lessons Learned

From storyline to impact: mapping actors, vectors, and decision-making pressure points.

Speaker: Mr. Ronan Mouchoux, Co-founder and CTO, XRATOR, France

☕ 11:15 – 11:45 | NETWORKING BREAK

🕦 11:45 – 12:30 | PANEL 1

How FIMI Operations Actually Work

What distinguishes organic debate from coordinated manipulation? Evidence thresholds: what is enough to act as a government? How can early detection enable prebunking of emerging narratives before they take hold?

Speakers:

Ms. Lejla Turčilo, PhD, Full Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo
Mr. Miroslav Sazdovski, Senior Analyst, European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
Mr. Filip Stojanovski, Metamorphosis Foundation

Moderator: Mr. Marko Banović, Digital Forensic Centre, Montenegro

🕧 12:30 – 13:15 | CASE STUDY

Disrupting a Covert Influence Operation: The REST Media / Rybar Case

A deep dive into a Russian state-affiliated influence operation, examining tactics, attribution, and links to the Western Balkans. The session will also explore how such networks can be exposed and disrupted, including legal and operational approaches to tackling FIMI infrastructure.

Speaker: Mr. Jakub Kubś, PhD, Researcher at GLOBSEC

🍽 13:15 – 14:15 | LUNCH BREAK

🕑 14:15 – 15:00 | PANEL 2

Election Integrity: Building Resilience

A whole-of-society approach to countering FIMI — institutions, platforms, media, and rapid response protocols for the final mile including prebunking of electoral manipulation narratives.

Speakers:

Ms. Milica Kovačević, President, Centre for Democratic Transition (CDT)
Mr. Zlatko Vujović, PhD, CEO of the European Network for Election Monitoring (ENEMO)
Ms. Danijela Vojinović, Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA)
Ms. Madalina Voinea, EFOR, Romania

Moderator: Ms. Olivera Komar, PhD, Full Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Montenegro

🕒 15:00 – 15:45 | PANEL 3

Response Options: What is Legitimate, Effective and Safe

Public communication under uncertainty, legal tools, cross-government coordination, institutional trust, media literacy

Speakers:

Ms. Radica Zeković, Director General at the Directorate for Media, Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro
Mr. Jetmir Rajta, Specialist at the Sector for Statistics, Modelling and Indicator Analysis, National Authority for Cybersecurity of Albania

Moderator: Mr. Draško Jabučanin, Analyst, Digital Forensic Centre, Montenegro

🕓 15:45 – 16:00 | DAY 1 CLOSING

Reflection and Family Photo

DAY 2 – Thursday, 7 May 2026

🕘 09:00 – 09:15 | MORNING BRIEFING AND OPENING REMARKS

Recap & Key Takeaways

Speaker: Ms. Sofia Badari, Programme Manager for Cybersecurity, DG ENEST

🕤 09:15 – 10:15 | PANEL 4

Safeguarding the European Path: Building Resilience in the Western Balkans

Strengthening institutions, defending public trust, and reducing vulnerabilities to foreign interference.

Speakers:

Ms. Biljana Papović, State Secretary, Ministry for European Affairs of Montenegro
Ms. Natalie Pauwels, Head of the Strategic Coordination and Communication Unit, DG ENEST
Mr. Miroslav Sazdovski, Senior Analyst, European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
Ms. Armela Krasniqi, Chairwoman of the Audiovisual Media Authority of Albania

Moderator: Nikoleta Đukanović, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty for Humanistic Studies, University Donja Gorica

🕤 10:15 – 10:25 | INSIGHT

Election Integrity in the Age of FIMI: Lessons from Election Observation

Speakers: Ms. Jelena Stefanović, MPA, Political and Election Expert, OSCE; Serbia

🕥 10:25 – 11:10 | PANEL 5

Judicial Response to FIMI and Disinformation
From digital evidence to prosecution of FIMI. Strengthening rule of law in the digital space.

Speakers:

Ms. Audrey Gerbaud, Deputy Prosecutor at the Paris Judicial Court, Cyber Department J3
Mr. Arben Murtezić, PhD, Legal Counsel at the Office of Vice President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ms. Marina Barbir, Judge at Higher Court in Belgrade
Mr. Ivan Jokić, Head of Head of the Criminal Intelligence Division at the Police Administration of Montenegro

Moderator: Ms. Ana Bukilić, Programme Manager at IDLO

☕ 11:10 – 11:40 | NETWORKING BREAK

🕦 11:40 – 12:40 | PANEL 6

Media on the Frontline of the Fight Against Disinformation

How media organisations detect, verify, respond to, and build resilience against disinformation, including AI-generated content with a focus on debunking practices and audience trust.

Speakers:

Mr. Nicolas Goinard, Journalist, Ouest-France
Mr. Marko Banović, Analyst, Digital Forensic Centre
Ms. Adelina Hasani, PhD, Head of Research at Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED)
Ms. Sunčica Bakić, Director, Agency for Audio-Visual Media Services of Montenegro

Moderator: Olivera Nikolić, Director of Montenegro Media Institute

🕧 12:40 – 14:10 | INTERACTIVE EXERCISE

War Game: Tabletop Simulation

Mixed country groups with assigned roles. Injects: manipulated video, leaked documents, coordinated hashtags, proxy media, diaspora channels, offline incidents. Participants will test both prebunking and debunking responses under time pressure.

Facilitators:

Mr. Ronan Mouchoux, Co-founder and CTO, XRATOR
Mr. Nicolas Goinard, Journalist, Ouest-France

🕑 14:10 – 14:15 | CLOSING REMARKS

Conference Wrap-up

🍽 14:15 – 15:15 | LUNCH

✈️ DEPARTURE

Speakers

Open Speakers PDF

Downloads:

FIMI-and-Disinformation-Conference-FINAL-AGENDA.pdf

Other news and events

Certified Data Protection Officer training,

This week, 26-28 May 2026, we organized the Certified Data Protection Officer training, a three-day regional programme for public servants involved in the implementation, supervision and monitoring of data protection measures across governmental and public sector institutions.

Data protection is a key part of digital trust. As public services become more digital and interconnected, institutions need the capacity to protect personal data, strengthen compliance, and ensure that citizens’ rights are respected in practice.

For the Western Balkans, this training is especially relevant. Strong data protection frameworks support better public administration, safer digital services, responsible data use and closer alignment with European standards. They also help institutions move beyond formal compliance and towards a more practical, people-centred approach to privacy and accountability.

Over the next three days, participants will work through the key pillars of data protection practice:

• Organisational governance — understanding roles, responsibilities and internal accountability
• Customer-centric compliance — applying data protection principles in services and institutional processes
• People-focused rights and responsibilities — strengthening the protection of individuals and supporting responsible decision-making

The course combines theory with practical exercises, peer exchange, group work and interactive simulations. Participants will work in small groups using a mock organisation aligned with their institutional context, allowing them to apply lessons to realistic public-sector scenarios.

The training is also designed as a certification programme, with short daily quizzes and final certification based on the average score across all three days.

By investing in Data Protection Officer capacities, WB3C is supporting the development of a stronger regional professional network — one that can help institutions protect personal data, build public trust and embed data protection into everyday governance. Big thank you to our trainers Blerta Xhako, Stella Manga Chesnay and Stefano Leucci.

Curtesy Visit by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

WB3C pleased to welcome a delegation of the Kingdom of Norway for a courtesy visit and exchange on possible areas of future cooperation.
The visit was an opportunity to present WB3C’s work as a regional platform for cybersecurity, cybercrime and cyber diplomacy, and to discuss how practical capacity-building can support resilience, institutional cooperation and the European path of the Western Balkans.
We were honoured to receive Mr Eirik Nestås Mathisen, Special Envoy for the Western Balkans at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with Ms Anita Krokan, Special Adviser at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colonel Dag-Magne Lunde, Defence Attaché of the Kingdom of Norway, Mrs. Ingrid Vik from the Norwegian NGO UTSYN and Mr Rajko Radevic, Adviser at the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, who were welcome by our programme lead Gilles Schwoerer.
Norway has long been a valued partner to the region, with a strong understanding of security, governance and resilience challenges in the Western Balkans. We look forward to continuing the dialogue and exploring concrete ways to work together in the period ahead.

Enhancing Cyber Resilience Across Critical Sectors through NIS2 Alignment

Today, we are launching a four-day regional training on Enhancing Cyber Resilience Across Critical Sectors through NIS2 Alignment, organised in cooperation with the The World Bank Group.
The training brings together regional representatives working across government, regulation, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure and policy. Over the next four days, participants will explore what NIS2 alignment means in practice for the Western Balkans, and how stronger cyber governance can help protect the critical services our societies rely on, from energy and telecommunications to transport, water, health and public administration.
This is especially relevant for our region. Cyber incidents do not stop at borders, and neither do the systems, services and supply chains that connect us. Building resilience requires clear institutional roles, practical incident reporting mechanisms, proportionate supervision, stronger risk management and better regional coordination.
The training will focus on practical policy choices and implementation challenges, including:
• identifying essential and important entities
• strengthening governance and accountability
• designing incident reporting and coordination pathways
• understanding supervision and enforcement approaches
• addressing supply-chain risk
• developing realistic implementation roadmaps
By the end of the training, participants will work towards concrete outputs, including national choices maps, incident coordination diagrams, supervisory capability gap lists and 24-month roadmaps for priority technical assistance and investment needs.
Through this cooperation, WB3C and the World Bank Group are supporting regional efforts to move from awareness to implementation, helping institutions make informed decisions, align with European cybersecurity standards and strengthen resilience across critical sectors.
The training is led by Mladen Bukilic, SOC Manager and CISO at Čikom, Montenegro and Vincent Desroches of EU4CYBER.