Wrote: Festim Rizanaj
The Russian media outlet "Sputnik", its Serbian-language service, published an article on March 11, titled, "Albanians in Pristina welcome NATO head with KLA and Dardania flags."
According to this medium, on the eve of the visit of NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, to Pristina, "in front of the presidency of Pristina institutions, in addition to the Kosovo and NATO flags, the flags of Dardania and the KLA have also been placed."
The facts show that the KLA flag has been placed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) since 2021 and has no connection to Rutte's visit.
Rutte's reception at the Presidency and the flags
The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Mark Rutte, visited Kosovo on March 11, where he met with the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.
Sputnik claimed that during his reception at the presidency, the flags of NATO, Kosovo, Dardania, as well as the KLA were unfurled.
The KLA flag has been placed in the courtyard of the Presidency since 2021 by the PSD and has no connection to the reception of Rutte during his visit. (here)
According to the reception protocol, flags are placed at the door and inside the reception room for the ceremony. During Rutte's reception at the Presidency, the flags of the Republic of Kosovo, NATO and the Presidency were observed.
This flag is used so that every act issued by the Presidency has the coat of arms, as stated in Law No. 03/L/094 for the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Article 1, paragraph 2.
Analyze:
The Russian media outlet, the Serbian-language service, published an article on March 11, claiming that Albanians in Pristina welcomed the NATO head with the flags of the KLA and Dardania.
Factual data shows that the KLA flag was placed by the PSD in 2021 and is not related to Rutte's visit.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the claim in question as "manipulation of fact".
Reasoning:
The evaluation as "Manipulation of facts" is given to those media reports that use facts known to be correct, but interpret them in a distorted way. These reports typically use inaccurate information to draw inaccurate conclusions or claims, thereby misdirecting consumers' conclusions of media content in relation to the actual meaning of the facts presented.