Wrote: Endrit Berisha
Through a post on TikTok, it has been claimed that Drizan Shala, an expert on security issues, has hinted that "the Kosovo army will be strengthened by September with 10 troops and anti-missile systems."
The claim was posted on TikTok by the account “der_albaner_mit_vollbart” on April 22. “Kosovo army is being strengthened and experts: 10 thousand troops by September and missile system” is the caption that this account put on the conversation that Shala had on the medium “A2CNN” (see here).
But what's wrong with this material?
After verifying the material from hibrid.info, it turns out that Shala did not talk about strengthening the Kosovo Army, but about increasing NATO troops and deploying anti-missile systems by NATO.
Link to the post by "der_albaner_mit_vollbart" on April 22:
This video has so far received more than 31 thousand views and 480 likes.
What did Shala declare?
In his statement, Shala said that Kosovo's partner countries will send additional troops to KFOR and that NATO will deploy the Patriot anti-missile system, and not that the Kosovo Army will be strengthened with troops or this missile system. Shala made the statement when Serbia was conducting military exercises near the border with Kosovo.
Excerpt from his statement:
"... it should also be emphasized that within KFOR there are some states that are still hesitant to support the mission according to 1244, that is, they are hesitant to send their troops to the territory of the Republic of Kosovo. So, the burden is falling on the states that are strategic partners of the Republic of Kosovo to do this, and on the ground, in Kosovo, we will have, by September, close to 10 thousand troops, which will be enough to convey the political-military message, but at the same time we will also have the new anti-missile system that NATO will deploy in the Republic of Kosovo, namely the 'Patriot' system, which is a system that protects the airspace. NATO will refer to the deployment of this system in Kosovo under the pretext of protecting the airspace of NATO member states that border the Republic of Kosovo." (see here)
Analyze:
Through a post on TikTok, it was falsely claimed that security expert Drizan Shala had hinted that "the Kosovo Army will be strengthened with 10 troops and anti-missile systems."
After verification, it turns out that Shala was talking about increasing KFOR troops and deploying weapons from NATO.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this claim as "Disinformation".
Reasoning:
"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.