DISINFO: Arrested Belarusian journalist Pratasevich is a mercenary
SUMMARY
Belarus’s security service (KGB) has found out that the arrested Belarusian opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich had been serving as a mercenary in Donbas.
RESPONSE
This is a report following a disinformation narrative aiming to discredit Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich.
Raman Pratasevich is a co-founder of the opposition Telegram channel NEXTA, which played an important role in providing information and broadcasting opposition protests against the illegitimate Belarusian president Lukashenka in 2020.
There is no substantial evidence to suggest that Pratasevich ever participated in the military activity of the Azov paramilitary battalion. Pratasevich himself said in an interview with a Russian journalist in 2020 that he had been in the war zone in Eastern Ukraine as a freelance journalist. See further investigation by an independent outlet Meduza.
Raman Pratasevich was detained in Minsk airport when flying from Athens to Vilnius. On Sunday, May 23, 2021, the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to turn back before crossing the Lithuanian border and land in the Belarusian capital. The pretext for landing in Minsk was a false report about the bomb on board. At the moment when the plane changed course, it was closer to Vilnius airport than to Minsk. The plane was forced by a Belarusian military aircraft to land in Minsk. Raman Pratasevich was detained during a repeated security check of passengers.
The EU condemned Belarusian action against civil plane and the detention of Pratasevich. In a declaration on behalf of the EU on the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 to Minsk on 23 May 2021, the High Representative called for the immediate release of Mr Pratasevich. This was followed by a European Council statement, in which the EU leaders called for targeted individual and economic sanctions as well as to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by these.
This disinformation claim is related to a broader disinformation narrative on Nazi's power in Ukraine. See related examples of disinformation claims here.