Several Albanian-language online media outlets published an article yesterday (July 6) with the claim in the title that NATO Deputy Secretary General Thomas Goffus, during a meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, considered Kosovo an ineffective security partner, also assessing that it is endangering the lives of alliance soldiers.
After verification of the facts conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that this claim made through the title is untrue. This is due to the fact that Goffus has never made such a statement.
Link to the article published on the portals "shqiptarja.com" and "report-tv.al":
https://archive.is/AhyvI#selection-1117.58-1117.71
During his meeting with Kurti, Goffus stated that there is a decline in practical and political coordination between NATO and Kosovo, but he never said that "Kosovo showed that it is an ineffective security partner, it endangered the lives of our soldiers."
Excerpt from Goffus' statement published on NATO's official website, translated into Albanian:
“Timely and meaningful cooperation is of key importance, as I have emphasized in my meetings today. Effective cooperation is how Kosovo demonstrates that it can be an effective security partner for NATO. Unfortunately, we have seen a decline in our practical and political coordination. This runs counter to the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Kosovar people. I have also shared my strongest expectation that all agreements with NATO will be respected and implemented. This is essential to ensure that the strong cooperation between NATO and the institutions in Kosovo is not disrupted.”, said Goffus.
The women and men of our KFOR mission have been on duty day and night, for many years, far from their countries and their families, to ensure a safe and secure environment here in Kosovo. These are the same men and women who on May 29 suffered unprovoked and unacceptable attacks, leaving 93 of them injured – some of them seriously. This is the highest number of KFOR casualties in a single day since 1999. This is absolutely unacceptable and cannot happen again. NATO has made this position clear to the Serbian authorities. False narratives about KFOR’s role are also unacceptable,” Goffus expressed. (see here full statement)
As can be seen in the statement, it is clear that NATO's number two did not say what is alleged in the media. So, Goffus did not call Kosovo an ineffective security partner, much less did he endanger the lives of NATO soldiers.
Analyze:
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the above-mentioned articles published in several Albanian-language online media outlets have included incorrect headlines, referring to the statement of NATO Deputy Secretary General Thomas Goffus.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses these articles as "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
A “Disinformation” rating is given to media reporting that contains a “mix” of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful content. This rating will also address reports that have incorrect attributions or headlines that do not reflect the text in terms of information accuracy.