Several Albanian-language portals published yesterday (February 28) an article titled "Summit in Tirana, Zelensky: We will also discuss the Kosovo issue."
These media outlets referred to a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the account referred to by the media was mainly used to distribute satirical content, claiming to be the account of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. "Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (parody)".
So, this statement was not made by any official account of the Ukrainian president.
Link to the post published by Albanian-language online media such as "Paparaci.com", "KosovaPress.com" and "Alsat.mk":
https://paparaci.com/409219/samiti-ne-tirane-zelensky-do-te-diskutojme-edhe-per-ceshtjen-e-kosoves/
Link to the post on X (formerly Twitter) published by the parody account “Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (parody)”:
The post published by the parody account "Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (parody)", translated into Albanian:
I am happy to meet with the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania @IgliHasani!
We will discuss the issue of Crimea, #Kosovo and support for Ukraine. #Albania is a rich country, so I hope for its financial participation in strengthening democracy and freedom!
So, from the above links it can be seen that some Albanian-language online media have used this content as a given, meaning with the intention of presenting it as the official position of President Zelensky. However, some of them, upon understanding the origin and authenticity of this post, have removed the article with this claim.
"Paparaci.com" has removed this post, but hibrid.info has managed to obtain the image from this article published by this medium. (see photo below)
While the article published by "Kosovapress.com" appears to have been deleted, the title from this publication remains in the link. (see photo below)
In addition to the media, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania has also fallen prey to this account, which "reposted" that post on X (former Twitter), which it later appears to have removed. (see photo below)
Also, the expert for the Western Balkans in the European Parliament, Federica Woelk, seems to have fallen prey to this post made by this satirical account, commenting "Please for #Kosova recognize all the efforts this country has been doing", translated into Albanian "We ask you for Kosovo to recognize all the efforts this country has made." (see photo below)
But what actually happened?
Zelensky is currently visiting Albania, as part of the "Ukraine - Southeast Europe" summit being held in Tirana.
So, the posting of this profile on social media X occurred the day before this event/political meeting. Being on the eve of this important moment, this posting (tweet) received more attention and caused important actors to fall prey to this content, not verifying its origin/authenticity, thus considering it as an official position of President Zelensky.
However, after checking and verifying the facts, hibrid.info brings the official agenda and the main events and developments surrounding this summit published by Radio Free Europe.
Also, Hibrid.info has researched Zelensky's official account on X (former Twitter), which shows that he did not mention Kosovo in any of his posts about his visit to Albania. (see here and here)
Analyze:
After fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that several Albanian-language media outlets, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, and the expert for the Western Balkans in the European Parliament, Federica Woelk, have fallen prey to a satirical account bearing the name of the Ukrainian president.
The satirical content was taken for granted by the media, some of which subsequently removed the article.
Also, the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs removed the "repost" on X (formerly Twitter).
While Federica Woelk's comment, as of the writing of this article, is still posted on this parody account.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info assesses this as "Satire" and "Unverified Content".
Reasoning:
The “Satire” rating includes informative content that uses literary devices such as mockery and irony to interpret various developments that occur. This in itself does not constitute a problem as long as it is made known that the content in question is satirical or the publisher is known as a satirical publisher. The purpose of including this rating in the methodology is to show that this type of content is taken for granted in certain situations regardless of the fact that it is satirical content. So in such cases, if a text fails to clarify that it has satirical content, it can be understood as true and, consequently, can create a wrong opinion in the audience.
The "Unverified" rating is given to those informative contents that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which could not be verified due to certain circumstances (speed, lack of sources) during the publication of the content.