On March 13, 2022, the online media Banglarreporter , which has a large distribution on the social network Facebook, published a news story with the headline "Vucic Warns Serbs: "Be Ready, We Have Information That Kosovo Will Take Other Actions In The North!. The same news, without verifying whether it is true or not, was distributed by the media and other accounts on Facebook.
In the content of this news, it is said that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has warned the Serbs today that based on the information available, the Government of Kosovo will take other actions in the north in November.
This statement of the President of Serbia was published in November 2021, after the actions of the Kosovo Police against the crime of smuggling in Pristina, Pejë and in the north and south of Mitrovica, and newly published on March 13, 2022, thus making the actual news and spreading fake news, which may cause panic among the public.
Meanwhile, manipulated news regarding the mandate of the Kosovo Security Force continued to circulate. Thus, the "“Molla e Kuqe" page on Facebook, when you click to go to the "Trendonline" site, on March 15, has reproduced a detached statement of the leader of the NATO Liaison Office for Serbia, Cesare Marinelli, presenting it as current news. . This news has received thousands of likes and several shares on social networks. However, the full interview with Marineli was published on July 20, 2021 in the Voice of America. Even the title does not match the content of the text.
The title of the manipulated news is: "KFOR Commander Responds to Belgrade: The US Created the Kosovo Army and Knows Their Mandate". But in the statement, the NATO official reiterates the position that the North Atlantic alliance recognizes the KSF with the mandate it had until 2018, this period when the Assembly approved the laws for the transformation of the KSF into the Armed Forces. "When it comes to the KSF, we recognize them in their current mandate. If there is a change, it should be discussed at the level of the North Atlantic Council," Marinelli had said. This change has not yet been approved by the North Atlantic Council. The content of the news is not even supported by what is written in the title, "The US has created the army of Kosovo".
*This article is published as part of the Western Balkans Regional Initiative against disinformation. “Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Hub: exposing malign influences through watchdog journalism.”
