DISINFO: Americans built military base in Macedonia and plan to kill people with drones from there
SUMMARY
The Americans built a military base in North Macedonia two years ago. It is one among 1,500 military bases in the world, and was made without an agreement between states but with a deal with just one or two Macedonian politicians. Two years ago, the US army came here and built a drone aircraft runway for their base. The purpose was to enable attacks with the most deadly drones for the purposes of the Americans and NATO in the fights against terrorism in the Middle East or the countries in Africa. Now, with this arrangement, foreign soldiers operating in the base are protected with special laws and the host country has no jurisdiction in punishing them and they are free to commit crimes and genocides. For example, these foreign soldiers can murder and rape, and there will be no legal consequences.
RESPONSE
This story is false and pushing an anti-NATO narrative designed to disrupt Montenegro’s road to NATO membership. Regarding co-operation between the armies of America and North Macedonia, this, in fact, only involved a joint exercise entitled "Decisive strike". In 2017, the two armies built the aircraft runway together for the purposes of the exercise in the military training facility "Krivolak". The article claims that two people decided to turn Krivolak into an American military base. Macedonia has no signed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) agreement with any country. This (SOFA) agreement is mandatory if allies wish to build a base within NATO countries. According to the annual budget of the American Ministry of Defense, there are 500 military bases in the world. None of them are in Macedonia. North Macedonia is not yet a full member of NATO and thereby the NATO Security Investment Restriction Programme does not cover construction of bases here. This was confirmed in a previous statement made by NATO high officials in May this year as a reply to a fake news story by Russian media Sputnik claiming NATO is building a military base in North Macedonia. However, a NATO military headquarters created in Skopje during the operational period of the NATO-led intervention in Kosovo has since been downsized and transformed into a NATO Liaison Office, which assists with security sector reform and host nation support to the Kosovo Force. A NATO Advisory Team is located within the country's defence ministry. In cases of criminal violent acts, unless diplomatic status is applicable to a person suspected of committing a violent crime, there is no exception from North Macedonian law for foreign nationals, according to the Criminal Code. See here for a similar case trying to spread fear about NATO soldiers as rapists. Similar claims about NATO can be found here.