NATO Exercise and Military Movements Portrayed as Intervention During Protests
Footage of ships in Vlorë and military vehicles in Tirana was presented as being linked to the protests and as evidence of intervention by Israel and the United States. Albania’s Ministry of Defence clarified that the ships were Turkish and were taking part in a planned NATO exercise, with no US participation.
Illustrative graphic featuring social media posts. Graphic prepared by Media Amfora.
During the youth protests in Albania, a video published by “JOQ Albania” described a military vessel near Orikum as American, without providing evidence to confirm its nationality.
“An American warship arrived today in the waters near Orikum, in the Bay of Vlorë,” read the caption accompanying the video.
The post mentioned a military helicopter at the rear of the ship and stated that the reason for its presence was unclear. The claim was repeated in English by the account “Kruja Chronicles” on the social media platform X, without any additional information identifying the vessel.
The presence of the ships was genuine, but claims that they were American and linked to the protests were unsupported by evidence and proved to be false. The Ministry of Defence’s response to Amfora, together with documentation of the activities at Pashaliman, confirmed that a NATO exercise had taken place.
In its written response, the ministry confirmed that the “NEPTUNE STRIKE 26-4” exercise had taken place in the Bay of Vlorë from 17 to 19 October.
“No American ship took part,” the Ministry of Defence told Amfora.
According to the ministry, the vessels present were Turkish and the activity had been planned in advance. The ministry also confirmed the use of two unmanned aerial vehicles in the exercise area beyond the Karaburun Peninsula.
Meanwhile, Turkish participation in the exercise had been made public before the activities in Vlorë. In an announcement dated 15 October, Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence had announced the deployment of TCG Anadolu, the frigate TCG Gaziantep and the submarine TCG Gür for the NATO exercise in several maritime areas, including the Adriatic and Ionian seas.
On 19 October, Anadolu Agency documented TCG Anadolu’s participation in the exercise at the Pashaliman Naval Base. Demonstrations involving helicopters and Bayraktar TB3 drones took place during the activity.
Other posts, however, went beyond claims about the vessel’s nationality. The X account known as Dunav Intel mentionedits resemblance to TCG Anadolu, a possible Bayraktar drone flight and previous claims concerning American and Israeli interests on Sazan Island.
The post brought these elements together in a single narrative but provided no evidence of an operational connection between them.
Narratives Also Targeted the Military and the New US Ambassador
Claims about the ships in Vlorë emerged in a context in which movements of vehicles described as military in Tirana had also been interpreted as preparations for intervention against protesters.
On 15 October, Amfora fact-checked reports published by Syri.net and Lajmifundit.al, which presented footage of trucks as evidence that the military was being deployed against students.
These claims also circulated beyond Albanian media outlets, using footage that did not show vehicles or uniforms belonging to the Albanian Armed Forces.
On Instagram, Al Arabiya published footage of another convoy of vehicles, describing it in Arabic as the beginning of the deployment of the Armed Forces on the streets of Tirana, amid escalating protests and clashes with police.
The account powerfulcountries went further, claiming that Prime Minister Edi Rama had ordered the deployment of heavily armed, militarised tactical units to contain protesters.
The post also linked public dissatisfaction to the project of Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law, presenting the approval of the resort as one of the criticisms directed at the government.
Meanwhile, trendingalb reported that circulating videos appeared to show military personnel in central Tirana. The account also mentioned claims about American helicopters near Berat, but explicitly described them as unverified. Thus, the same post brought together protest footage, an alleged military presence and suspicions about American aircraft, without confirming any connection between them.
The reports also appeared in Turkish media. In an article published in English on 19 October, Haberler placed the convoy footage in the context of the protests in Albania.
However, the article clarified that there was no official confirmation linking the convoy to the protests and that there was no verified information about soldiers intervening against demonstrators or the military being tasked with suppressing the protests.
The footage also circulated in Russian. In a video posted by the account “SPART NEWS”, the convoy of trucks was accompanied by the caption: “Tirana in flames: Military convoys enter the capital, Rama clings to power.” The visible description added that Tirana had turned into a “battlefield” overnight.
Meanwhile, claims about the presence of an American ship near Vlorë also circulated on foreign accounts.
According to preliminary monitoring by Amfora Centre’s “Resilience Observatory”, the account DD Geopolitics shared material about the military presence in the area, as part of posts linking it to the protests.
Material on the same topic was also published by Srbin.info, extending the discussion to Serbian-speaking audiences.
In a parallel narrative, Albania News-Pravda shifted attention to the Trump family’s economic interests in Albania by republishing an article from PolitNavigator entitled “How Trump’s Son-in-Law Became the Detonator of the Albanian Revolution”.
The website portrayed Jared Kushner’s project as a symbol of foreign elites benefiting while young Albanians faced economic hardship.
News-Pravda is part of the “Pravda” ecosystem of websites, documented by the French agency VIGINUM in its “Portal Kombat” investigation as a network spreading pro-Russian content. The VIGINUM report describes the expansion of this ecosystem towards audiences in different countries.
Regarding Srbin.info, a study published in 2020 by NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence documented the frequent republication of Sputnik Srbija content and a predominantly pro-Russian editorial orientation.
DD Geopolitics, meanwhile, was described in an Intel Focus analysis published in September 2026 as a network of accounts spreading pro-Russian propaganda.
The narrative surrounding the ships developed alongside claims about the role of the US ambassador and the possible use of the military during the protests.
On 16 October, US Ambassador Eric Wendt met with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Arben Kingji.
Newsbomb cited unidentified sources regarding an alleged message from the ambassador concerning the use of the military.
The public announcement of the meeting, reproduced in the same article, referred to defence cooperation, capability modernisation, and national and collective security, without mentioning any instructions concerning troop deployment.
An article published by “Tempull News” also raised the question of whether the meeting was linked to an alleged message concerning military readiness, although the outlet acknowledged that it had no independent confirmation of the existence, content or reason for the alleged order.
On social media, the claim took a more categorical form.
A post by “diaspora.news.shqip” claimed that the ambassador had ordered the Albanian military not to intervene during the protests and referred to several photographs of messages from a WhatsApp conversation.
The actual presence of the ships, footage of vehicle convoys and the US ambassador’s meeting with the head of the military were thus woven into narratives about intervention during the protests, despite the absence of evidence linking these developments. These narratives spread widely both within Albania and abroad at the height of the wave of protests.
