Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
Content is published claiming that Richard Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany, has revealed details about how the "Kurti 1 Government" was overthrown.
This claim was published (August 1) in an article by the medium "botasot.info" and bears the title "They came to my office and told me we are ready for the partition of Kosovo, just leave...", details emerge about how "Grenell overthrew Kurti"".
The truth?
From the content, it is noticeable that the article is based on a post by Luan Gacaferi, a member of the leadership of the "Guxo" party, on Facebook, which is not explained in the title.
Link to the article published by the medium "botasot.info":
Hibrid.info has researched Gacaferi's post on Facebook and found it published on July 31 (see here).
His reaction comes after a statement by publicist Veton Surroi, to which Gacaferi referred in the post. The statement was taken from an opinion piece by Surroi, published on the same date (see here). Gacaferi even manipulated Surroi's writing, mentioning the division of Kosovo, which Surroi did not emphasize, in the referenced section.
Part from writing of Veton Surroi:
"Donald Trump didn't wake up one morning and decide to overthrow the Kosovo government; a number of Kosovo officials went to his ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, and told him they were willing to overthrow the government in order to reach the historic agreement between Kosovo and Serbia."
Based on this opinion expressed by Surroi, Gacaferi wrote another status on Facebook, where he presented this opinion as a statement coming from Richard Grenell (see here).
The claim that this statement came from Richard Grenell himself was also found in content found on TikTok, published by the account named "albinkurti_kryeminister" (see here).
Despite the claim in the article by the medium "botasot.info" that Grenell made this statement to the German media, hibrid.info has researched using the search engine, "Google", but has not found credible sources confirming that the statement was made by the former American ambassador (see here).
Context:
Hibrid.info has found a similar public statement by former Secretary of National Security in the Trump administration, John Bolton, who stated that the exchange of territories, an idea that was being discussed as a final solution for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, had been proposed by the leaders of these two countries (see here). While Grenell had denied having any hand in the overthrow of the “Kurti 1 Government” (see here).
Analyze:
The claim that former Ambassador Grenell has shown how Kurti was ousted from the government in 2021 is untrue.
Hibrid.info has found that the claim represents the opinion of publicist Veton Surroi, which was presented as fact by a member of the "Guxo" Party, and was then reported on in an informative article by the medium "botasot.info".
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.