Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
Content is being published claiming that the current President of the United States of America (USA), Joe Biden, has declared that "Belarus is our favorite NATO country."
The claim was published on Facebook (June 28) by the account "Investiguesi Shkrimor", through a video clip taken from the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, candidates for the US presidential election.
What did Joe Biden really say?
Based on what is seen and heard, Biden has spoken about the danger that he believes Vladimir Putin poses to Ukraine and surrounding countries, such as Poland and Belarus.
Link to the video material published by the "Writing Investigator" account on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/100092945134138/videos/777186674608422
President Biden's statement from the video footage
"The fact is that Putin is a war criminal. He has killed thousands and thousands of people. And he has made one thing clear: He wants to restore what was part of the Soviet Empire. Not just a part, he wants all of Ukraine. That is what he wants.
And then do you think he'll stop there? Do you think he'll stop when he - if he takes Ukraine? What do you think will happen to Poland? What do you think about Belarus? What do you think will happen to those NATO countries?"
To confirm the accuracy of the words heard, hibrid.info has researched, and through search engines has found the transcript of the debate between Biden and Trump, held on June 28 on American television, CNN (see here).
Also, by searching through the search engine, "Google", hibrid.info has searched for Biden's positions on Belarus, but has not found any that prove that the American president considers this country a favorite of NATO (see here).
Research has found that in some media outlets, such as "Russia Today," President Biden's statement was interpreted as his claim that he considered Belarus a member of NATO in his speech (see here).
Analyze:
The claim that US President Joe Biden has stated that "Belarus is our favorite NATO country" is incorrect.
Biden has actually implied that this country is endangered by Russia.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Manipulation of facts".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.