The dubious portal with Albanian language content "news426media.com" published yesterday (October 20) an article titled, "Russian forces attack the Albanian consulate in Kharkiv."
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the news is old (March 2022) and concerns an attack by the Russian air force on the Albanian honorary consulate in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
This dubious portal has tried to re-present this old news as current, pushing readers to click on it.
Link to the article published on "news426media.com":
Excerpts from the article published on "news426media.com":
The Russian army has also attacked the Albanian consulate in Kharkiv. The news was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Europe of Albania.
Regarding the serious incident, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka, reacted through a message on Twitter, condemning the attack.
"Albania strongly condemns the #Russian aggression that led to the destruction of the Honorary Consulate of Albania in Kharkiv. The perpetrators must be held accountable!", reads the ministry's response, which has also published the photos.
The same article was published yesterday (October 21) on Facebook, by the page "Koha e Re" with about 7 thousand followers. (here)
From research through search engines and social networks, hibrid.info has managed to find the article published by several online media in Albania and Kosovo in real time related to the event. (here, here and here)
The news about the bombing of the Albanian consulate was published on the official Twitter account of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka. (here)
Analyze:
The dubious portal "news426media.com" has published an old article from March 2022, claiming to present it as current.
The news was about the attack on the honorary consulate of Albania in Ukraine, which was attacked by Russian air forces during March of this year.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info assesses this article 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.