Russian-language media "politnavigator.net” published an article on Tuesday (June 9) claiming that European Union Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, congratulated the leader of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Albin Kurti, on his victory in the June 7 elections, before the vote counting began.
The truth?
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this claim is false.
Excerpt from the article published by "politanvigator.net", translated into Albanian:
The European Commissioner rushed to congratulate her Kosovar counterpart on the victory even before the vote counting began.
In Kosovo, after extraordinary "parliamentary" elections, the counting of votes has just begun, while the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, has already announced the winner.
According to her, the winner is the current prime minister with a technical mandate and the leader of the "Vetëvendosje!" party, as well as the initiator of the anti-Serbian persecutions, Albin Kurti, the "PolitNavigator" correspondent reports.
FACTS
The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Sunday (June 7th) has published the preliminary results of the early parliamentary elections for almost all municipalities.
From the preliminary results of 99.40% of polling stations, the Vetëvendosje Movement leads with 42.92%, followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo with 21.06%, the Democratic League of Kosovo with 17.61%, the Alliance with 7.17% and the Serbian List with 6.17% (see here)
Meanwhile, Marta Kos, on Monday (June 8th) through her official account on X congratulated Kurti on his victory in these elections (see here).
Marta Kos's post
This indicates that the congratulations were not made before the vote counting, as claimed in the article.
The article published by the Russian media outlet “politnavigator.net” was later distributed on the Russian propaganda network “Pravda” in Albanian (see here).
About the Russian media outlet "politnavigator.net"
Media monitoring organization Media Bias/Fact Check rates PolitNavigator as a media outlet with low credibility, mixed reporting, promotion of pro-Russian propaganda, and problems with transparency, sources, and the spread of propaganda narratives (see here).
Analyze
The claim published by the Russian media "PolitNavigator" that the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, congratulated Albin Kurti on his election victory before the vote counting beginsWow, it's fake.
The preliminary election results were published by the CEC on June 7 and showed the lead of the Vetëvendosje Movement, while Marta Kos's congratulatory message was published a day later, on June 8.
The claim was later distributed by the Russian propaganda network "Pravda" in Albanian.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this article as "Disinformation".
rationale
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.