Original title: Lazanski: NATO gets Krivolak, Macedonia becomes depo for radioactive ammunition” (Macedonian)
This article is manipulative by misinterpretation of facts and relevant information, aimed to confuse and to intimidate the citizens in regards to the NATO membership. Besides this article, the same disinformation appeared in other news outlets and social networks, but its origin is from the column of Miroslav Lazanski, published on the Serbian Politika website. The key disinformation is that NATO will get Military Range “Krivolak” and that North Macedonia will become a depo for radioactive ammunition. In addition, as in all disinformation narratives, facts are misinterpreted and presented in order to disturb the public and cause mistrust in the institutions.
Link to the original article here.
Link to the archived original article here.
A columnist has the right to free speech, but a column could not be treated as proof for anything and should not be used as a vehicle for spreading fear and paranoia. Miroslav Lazanski is one of the conspiracy theorist active in the Balkan region, military-political analyst and MP, nominated by the ruling SNS party in Serbia, very well known for his criticism of NATO and pro-Russian attitudes. The author does not provide any proof of evident use of live ammunition with depleted uranium by NATO forces for training purposes. Thus, he makes claims that NATO will use radioactive ammunition in North Macedonia without any relevant argument.
The military range “Krivolak” is in ownership of the state, and thus, NATO forces could use the military range for the training purposes in cooperation with the Army of Republic of North Macedonia.
In regard to the fears of possible use of radioactive materials by NATO forces, the Ministry of Defense has issued an official denial, rejecting the claims that any radioactive material was used by NATO forces during the joint training on “Krivolak,” held in 2018. Furthermore, there is no official statement by NATO or any other NATO member and/or partner country that implies the possible use of depleted uranium for training purposes.
