Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
On the X platform (formerly Twitter), the accounts "VukFeNix" and "MarioZNA" often publish visual content of various events, with false claims that the perpetrators of many criminal offenses committed in various European countries belong to Albanian nationality.
Hibrid.info has handle the content published by the account "VukFeNix", which presents cases of criminal offenses and, without any evidence, claims that the people who appear to be committing them are Albanians.
During online research, hibrid.info found that two of the false content published by this account were also published in Serbian and English language groups on the social media Telegram, and then also on the Russian propaganda domain in Albanian "albania.news-pravda.com".
On May 1, the “VukFeNix” account on X published a video material with the claim that a person of Albanian nationality, in Barcelona, Spain, tried to steal the camera of a photographer from China, who then used a martial arts technique to stop the perpetrator until the police arrived.
Hibrid.info has researched through the automated search program “InVID” and has come across an article published in a Spanish-language medium, about the incident in question. (see here)
This article explains that it is about a Chinese tourist in Barcelona, who neutralized a person of North African origin. (see here article published by hibrid.info)
Meanwhile, on July 20, content with the same claim was also published on the Russian propaganda domain "albania.news-pravda.com". At the end of this article it is clarified that the source of this content was taken from the Telegram account called "The New York Times". However, this account is currently not accessible. (see here)
On August 25, the accounts "VukFeNix”And“MarioZNA" have published a video showing two women arguing. According to the description of the post, the incident occurred in Venice, Italy, and it is alleged that an American tourist grabbed an Albanian migrant girl by the hair, suspected of being a thief.
After searching international media and other reliable sources, no information has been found confirming the identity or nationality of the girl involved in the incident.
Articles published by the media such as "Daily Mail" reports case focusing on the actions of the American tourist, Christina Cadieu Greene, and the broader context of the problem with pickpockets in Venice. However, these sources do not specify the nationality of the suspect girl. (see here article published by hibrid.info)
On September 3, at 7:59, this content with the same claim was also published on the Serbian-language Telegram channel "Militarist"(Militarist).
Meanwhile, on the same day, about an hour later (8:40), this content was also published on the Russian propaganda domain in Albanian "albania.news-pravda.com".
Therefore, the content published by the accounts "VukFeNix" and "MarioZNA" serve as examples of the distribution of disinformation narratives, which manipulate real events by attributing them to Albanians.
The cases in question show that these false claims are distributed in different languages and platforms, including the Russian propaganda domain, to spread negative discourse against Albanians.