DISINFO: 1968 Prague Spring was orchestrated and not a democratic movement
SUMMARY
Prague is lying about the real reasons behind the events of 1968. It was not a democratic protest. It was a political action orchestrated by Western intelligence services to split the Warsaw Pact and use Czechoslovakia to reach the borders of Soviet Ukraine and to disrupt a major gas deal between the USSR, France, and Italy. NATO feared that in the conditions of the Cold War, Paris and Rome would refuse to fight with the Soviet Union because they receive cheap gas from it.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about peaceful, democratic protests and the history of the Czech Republic. This article is an attempt of historical revisionism that aims to improve the reputation of the Soviet Union and to paint a picture of historically aggressive Western stance.
Prague Spring was a brief period of liberalisation in the former Czechoslovakia in 1968. On January 5, 1968, the new first secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party Alexander Dubcek initiated a series of democratic reforms. He granted the press greater freedom of expression, rehabilitated victims of political purges, revised the constitution to guarantee civil rights and liberties, and promulgated autonomy for Slovakia. By June, the people were calling for more rapid and substantial reforms.
However, the Soviet Union feared that these reforms would lead to the destabilisation of the communist regimes in Central Europe. On August 20, the Soviet forces together with some Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia. This violent attack killed and wounded hundreds and the reforms were swiftly curtailed.
See similar disinformation cases on historical revisionism: Czech authorities engage in pro-Nazi historical revisionism; Poland spreads monstrous lies about the Soviet liberation of this country; the world has forgotten about the Holocaust; throughout its history, Russia has never attacked anyone.