Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
The website albania.news-pravda.com, which operates as the Albanian domain of the Russian propaganda network, Pravda, has published a video material which shows a person setting fire in the "Kodra e Minatorëve" neighborhood in North Mitrovica.
Through this content it is claimed that "An Albanian has been caught setting fire to a Serbian Orthodox monastery in northern Mitrovica, Kosovo."
The truth?
After research conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that this content was published only two days after official announcement of the Kosovo Police, which on July 26, 2025 had reported on its official Facebook page about an arson incident in the same neighborhood, after receiving information about a fire breaking out in a residential area.
However, the police have not reported any ethnic or interethnic motive in connection with the case, treating it as an individual criminal offense.
So, it is not known whether the person was Albanian or of some other nationality, and it is not true that this person set fire to a Serbian Orthodox monastery, as claimed in the article published in Pravda.
Hibrid.info has further investigated this content published in Pravda. After fact-checking, it was found that this video with the same claim was originally published by a Russian Telegram channel called “@infantmilitario", which has nearly 290 thousand subscribers.
Subsequently, the same content was also distributed on the Russian-language portal "Pressa24.ru".
On July 29, the same video material was also published on the Pravda Albanian domain, but with a different claim: "In northern Kosovo, Albanians set fires, causing casualties, as a method of displacing the Serbian population." (see here treatment from hibrid.info)
Hibrid.info on July 18 published an investigative report on a large propaganda and disinformation network, known as "Pravda", which operates in over 80 countries, including the Balkans, and has now opened a "news portal" in Albanian.
The report shows how the Pravda network, through content not based on reliable sources, aims to influence public opinion by spreading pro-Russian and pro-Serbian narratives. (see report) here)
Analyze:
The website albania.news-pravda.com, part of the Russian propaganda network Pravda, published a video claiming that an Albanian had set fire to a Serbian Orthodox monastery in northern Mitrovica.
Verification by hibrid.info shows that the video was published two days after the official announcement by the Kosovo Police (July 26, 2025) of an arson case in the “Kodra e Minatorëve” neighborhood. The police have not reported an ethnic or interethnic motive and have not mentioned any monastery.
The content was initially distributed by the Russian Telegram channel "@infantmilitario" (around 290 thousand subscribers) and then by the Russian portal Pressa24.ru.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Disinformation" and "Manipulation of facts".
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.
“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.