Weaponised Victimhood: Arsenijevic’s Lie Machine

For nearly two years, Western silence and diplomatic photo-ops have emboldened Aleksandar Arsenijevic, turning a known provocateur into a legitimised actor of Kremlin-style destabilisation.

In the tumultuous politics of northern Kosovo, Aleksandar Arsenijevic has emerged as a master manipulator, camouflaging subversion beneath a cloak of democratic rhetoric. Known colloquially as "Aco Ludi" or "Aco the Madman," Arsenijevic has, in the years following the disintegration of Milan Radoicic’s armed networks, positioned himself as the new vanguard of Belgrade-aligned destabilisation efforts. Where Radoicic failed to deliver a Russian-styled annexation of northern Kosovo in the September 24, 2023 Banjska attacks¹, Arsenijevic stepped forward with calculated provocations, utilising psychological warfare, political theatre, and strategic public relations to agitate, destabilise, and delegitimise Kosovo’s institutions.

The tactics are not new

They follow the Kremlin’s manual for hybrid warfare: provoke ethnic tension, record the chaos, edit for Western audiences, and broadcast a narrative of Serb victimhood. The results are predictable. Violence erupts, Kosovo’s law enforcement inte…