During the youth protests in Albania, a video published by \u201cJOQ Albania\u201d described a military vessel near Orikum as American, without providing evidence to confirm its nationality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn American warship arrived today in the waters near Orikum, in the Bay of Vlor\u00eb,\u201d read the caption accompanying the\u00a0video<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/a> in English by the account \u201cKruja Chronicles\u201d on the social media platform X, without any additional information identifying the vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s response to Amfora, together with documentation of the activities at Pashaliman, confirmed that a NATO exercise had taken place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its written response, the ministry confirmed that the \u201cNEPTUNE STRIKE 26-4\u201d exercise had taken place in the Bay of Vlor\u00eb from 17 to 19 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo American ship took part,\u201d the Ministry of Defence told Amfora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Turkish participation in the exercise had been made public before the activities in Vlor\u00eb. In an\u00a0announcement<\/a> dated 15 October, T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Ministry of National Defence had announced the deployment of TCG Anadolu, the frigate TCG Gaziantep and the submarine TCG G\u00fcr for the NATO exercise in several maritime areas, including the Adriatic and Ionian seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 19 October, Anadolu Agency\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0TCG Anadolu\u2019s participation in the exercise at the Pashaliman Naval Base. Demonstrations involving helicopters and Bayraktar TB3 drones took place during the activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other posts, however, went beyond claims about the vessel\u2019s nationality. The X account known as Dunav Intel\u00a0mentioned<\/a>its resemblance to TCG Anadolu, a possible Bayraktar drone flight and previous claims concerning American and Israeli interests on Sazan Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The post brought these elements together in a single narrative but provided no evidence of an operational connection between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Narratives Also Targeted the Military and the New US Ambassador<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Claims about the ships in Vlor\u00eb emerged in a context in which movements of vehicles described as military in Tirana had also been interpreted as preparations for intervention against protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 15 October, Amfora\u00a0fact-checked<\/a>\u00a0reports published by Syri.net and Lajmifundit.al, which presented footage of trucks as evidence that the military was being deployed against students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These claims also circulated beyond Albanian media outlets, using footage that did not show vehicles or uniforms belonging to the Albanian Armed Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Instagram,\u00a0Al A<\/a>r<\/a>abiya<\/a>\u00a0published 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The account\u00a0powerfulcountries<\/a>\u00a0went further, claiming that Prime Minister Edi Rama had ordered the deployment of heavily armed, militarised tactical units to contain protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The post also linked public dissatisfaction to the project of Jared Kushner, the US president\u2019s son-in-law, presenting the approval of the resort as one of the criticisms directed at the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile,\u00a0trendingalb<\/a>\u00a0reported 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reports also appeared in Turkish media. In an article published in English on 19 October,\u00a0Haberler<\/a>\u00a0placed the convoy footage in the context of the protests in Albania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The footage also circulated in Russian. In a\u00a0video<\/a>\u00a0posted by the account \u201cSPART NEWS\u201d, the convoy of trucks was accompanied by the caption: \u201cTirana in flames: Military convoys enter the capital, Rama clings to power.\u201d The visible description added that Tirana had turned into a \u201cbattlefield\u201d overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, claims about the presence of an American ship near Vlor\u00eb also circulated on foreign accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to preliminary monitoring by Amfora Centre\u2019s \u201cResilience Observatory\u201d, the account\u00a0DD Geopolitics<\/a>\u00a0shared material about the military presence in the area, as part of posts linking it to the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Material on the same topic was also published by\u00a0Srbin.info<\/a>, extending the discussion to Serbian-speaking audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a parallel narrative, Albania News-Pravda<\/a> shifted attention to the Trump family\u2019s economic interests in Albania by republishing an article from PolitNavigator entitled \u201cHow Trump\u2019s Son-in-Law Became the Detonator of the Albanian Revolution\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The website portrayed Jared Kushner\u2019s project as a symbol of foreign elites benefiting while young Albanians faced economic hardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n News-Pravda is part of the \u201cPravda\u201d ecosystem of websites, documented by the French agency VIGINUM in its \u201cPortal Kombat\u201d investigation as a network spreading pro-Russian content. The\u00a0VIGINUM report<\/a>\u00a0describes the expansion of this ecosystem towards audiences in different countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding Srbin.info, a\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0published in 2020 by NATO\u2019s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence documented the frequent republication of Sputnik Srbija content and a predominantly pro-Russian editorial orientation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DD Geopolitics, meanwhile, was described in an Intel Focus analysis\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0in September 2026 as a network of accounts spreading pro-Russian propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 16 October, US Ambassador Eric Wendt met with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Arben Kingji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Newsbomb<\/a>\u00a0cited unidentified sources regarding an alleged message from the ambassador concerning the use of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n