Sabotaging the State, One Post at a Time

A media charlatan cloaked in journalism exposes Kosovo’s security spine, mocking protection for a prime minister targeted for assassination. This isn’t satire; it’s state sabotage.

On a spring morning in Prishtina, as acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti emerged from a government building, a formation of close protection officers surrounded him with precision. Their movements choreographed and professional, the security personnel kept their gazes trained, their steps sharp. But what ought to have been a routine demonstration of state security protocol became the subject of derision and ridicule in a series of social media posts by Berat Buzhala, one of Kosovo's most publicly visible media figures. Over the span of several days in late April 2025, Buzhala published four Facebook posts¹ that mocked the Prime Minister's security detail. These posts, peppered with sarcastic captions and emojis, did more than simply question the necessity of the Prime Minister's protection; they exposed the faces, movement routes, and even the specific protective equipment used by the close protection team. They constituted not satire, but sabotage.

Chronologically, Buzhala's campaign began with the publication of an image depicting the route from one government building to another, suggesting that Kurti's walk was flanked by no fewer than ten armed bodyguards. The following posts included high-resolution images that revealed individual security officers, their tactical arrangements, and at least one carrying what Buzhala described as an "antiplumb" (a bulletproof shield). The final image even encircled the protective shield in red, drawing the viewer's attention directly to its tactical purpose. What at first might seem a series of theatrical jabs at perceived governmental paranoia quickly reveals itself to be a deliberate effort to delegitimise and compromise a core function of state security.

Redacted for Security: These screenshots document an orchestrated media effort to expose and ridicule the Prime Minister’s close protection detail. Faces have been redacted to protect the lives and safety of Kosovo Police officers and their families. Revealing identities of such personnel is a threat to national security and a violation of ethical journalism.

The implications are profound. Kosovo’s Prime Minister was the target of at least two known assassination plots: one in 2021, another foiled in early February 2025 following the publication of investigative findings² that linked the conspiracy to regional criminal syndicates and external intelligence actors. The 2021 attempt came on the heels of Kurti’s first administration being toppled in 2020, under circumstances widely believed to have been orchestrated through foreign interference, including the direct involvement of Richard Grenell³. In both cases, Kurti's physical safety was, and remains, a matter of national urgency. To mock the presence of his protection, especially in such a public, photographic, and dismissive manner, does not merely challenge political optics; it risks inciting another breach of security.

Buzhala's posts do something even more insidious: they expose the identities of close protection officers to thousands of viewers, many of whom may have malicious intent. In any functioning democracy, the anonymity of security personnel tasked with protecting heads of state is sacrosanct. These officers and their families live under constant risk, and their visibility places not just them, but their relatives, in jeopardy. Revealing their faces, movements, and tactical configurations provides an intelligence blueprint to anyone seeking to exploit it. In the context of a region as volatile as the Balkans, with its entanglements of organised crime, foreign intelligence, and unresolved post-war tensions, such exposure is not irresponsible journalism; it is active sabotage.

In the United Kingdom, where the presence of royal protection officers or MI5 details is a fixture of urban life, the identification of these individuals by the press would trigger immediate legal consequences. Under British law, specifically the Official Secrets Acts and provisions within the Terrorism Act 2000, publishing or disseminating material likely to identify an intelligence or protection officer can be prosecuted. In cases involving the Prime Minister or royal family, protective protocols are shrouded in operational secrecy. Journalists who breach that veil not only risk criminal sanctions but also professional ruin. The ethical standards laid out by Ofcom and the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) would deem such behaviour grossly negligent and potentially harmful to national security.

In the United States, the Secret Service operates under a strict veil of operational confidentiality. Revealing agent identities or tactics is not tolerated under the guise of First Amendment protection. Newsrooms understand the delicate balance between accountability and security. Journalists who do not are swiftly reminded by editors, and sometimes prosecutors, that not all information is publishable. The same ethos guides practices across most of Europe, in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, where journalism is grounded not merely in freedom but in civic responsibility. That Buzhala, who claims journalistic legitimacy, would flout these foundational norms suggests a professional dereliction rooted in ulterior motives.

To understand Buzhala's intent, one must consider his long-standing relationship with Richard Grenell⁴, Donald Trump’s former special envoy to the Balkans. Grenell, a figure of considerable controversy in Europe, was central to orchestrating Kurti’s 2020 political ousting, according to a European Parliament report on disinformation and foreign interference⁵. In recent years, Grenell has been linked to a network of Balkan media influencers, chief among them Berat Buzhala. Messages leaked from Buzhala’s own WhatsApp account confirmed coordination with Grenell over misinformation campaigns targeting Kurti. Their ideological alignment, bolstered by mutual disdain for Kosovo’s current government, underscores what is increasingly evident: Buzhala is not an independent commentator. He is a political actor operating under the guise of journalism, and his amplification of Grenell’s narratives in Kosovo is a textbook example of soft-power propaganda.

This happened this February following Kosovo's February 9th elections: WhatsApp messages reveal Buzhala’s direct link to Richard Grenell. In a conversation with Petrit Selimi, Buzhala discloses that Grenell retweeted his post without prior notice suggesting that many others were coordinated in their efforts when Buzhala attacked Albin Kurti and his party, Vetëvendosje.

The security of the state is not merely threatened by guns and bombs; it is just as vulnerable to ridicule, delegitimisation, and demoralisation. What Buzhala has engineered in these posts is a direct attack on the legitimacy of the Prime Minister’s right to protection. By turning security into spectacle, by weaponising humour to conceal subversion, and by casting the state’s defensive measures as overreach, he erodes public trust in the institutions designed to protect the republic. The stakes are heightened by the fact that Kurti’s life has previously been targeted. Our investigative findings, confirmed by former PDK heavyweight Xhavit Haliti⁶, suggest a second assassination attempt was narrowly avoided this year. That Buzhala chose this moment to publicise and mock the PM’s security should alarm every citizen invested in Kosovo’s sovereignty.

In the disinformation architecture that threatens emerging democracies, actors like Buzhala serve as local amplifiers of foreign interests. The threads connecting him to Grenell are not incidental; they are functional. Grenell, whose history of lobbying for Kremlin-linked oligarchs and far-right European factions is now a matter of public record, has used figures like Buzhala to craft narratives favourable to Serbia and damaging to Kosovo. From attempting to dissolve the country’s tariffs against Serbia, to crafting fake diplomatic support to destabilise Kurti’s leadership, Grenell’s fingerprints have appeared across Kosovo’s most fragile political junctures. That Buzhala is the loudest domestic voice echoing Grenell’s views⁷ speaks volumes.

What is at stake is not merely the reputation of a prime minister or the integrity of a security detail. It is the very fabric of a sovereign state attempting to preserve democratic order amid regional hostility and internal sabotage. To undermine the Prime Minister’s security in such a calculated fashion is to attack the state itself. That Buzhala, a man with ties to organised crime figures such as Zvonko Veselinovic⁸ and with a public record of pro-Serbian editorial bias⁹, is leading this charge should not be dismissed as coincidence. It is design.

In the end, these posts are not jokes. They are blueprints. They map vulnerabilities. They expose the men who risk their lives to defend Kosovo’s elected leader. They mock, but beneath the laughter lies a strategy. A strategy of destabilisation, of delegitimisation, of infiltration through derision. It is the kind of campaign that, in other countries, would be met with criminal investigation, not viral acclaim.

Kosovo must decide whether it will continue to permit such masquerades under the banner of press freedom¹⁰, or whether it will protect its institutions from coordinated, malign influence. The stakes, as history and present danger make clear, are nothing short of existential.

1. Berat Buzhala’s Facebook Posts: April 23, April 24, April 24, May 1, 2025.

2. Kosovo’s Political Mafia: Will They Stop at Nothing to Take Down Albin Kurti? — The GPC.

3. Kosovo in Crisis: Is Grenell Engineering Another Political Coup? — The GPC.

4. Berat Buzhala, Richard Grenell, and the Kremlin's Grip on Kosovo — The GPC.

5. The European Parliament’s 2021 report provides a framework for understanding Grenell’s current manoeuvres. — EU P Report.

6. Inside the Alleged Plot to Kill Albin Kurti — The GPC.

7. Berat Buzhala’s Outlet ‘NACIONALE’s posts on Richard Grenell — Nacionale.

8. Berat Buzhala, Sanctioned Figures, and the Threat to Kosovo’s National Security — The GPC.

9. Berat Buzhala’s Role in Destabilising Kosovo’s Democracy — The GPC.

10. The Capture of Kosovo’s Media: Open Letter to Defenders of Press Freedom — The GPC.