DISINFO: Biden sanctioned a coup in Belarus and the kidnapping of Lukashenko's sons

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

  • Outlet: sputnik.by ( archive, original )
  • Date of publication: April 21, 2021
  • Article language(s): Russian
  • Countries / regions discussed: Belarus, US

AI translations:

DISINFO: Biden sanctioned a coup in Belarus and the kidnapping of Lukashenko's sons

SUMMARY

Global media are silent about the coup attempt in Belarus. They discuss anything except this because they did not yet receive guidelines on the coverage of this event. Biden called Putin a murderer but sanctioned the operation to kidnap Lukashenko's children. If Westerners find this out, they will start asking inconvenient questions. Hence, attempts to silence the incident.

RESPONSE

Pro-Kremlin narrative about Western media outlets as subservient to Western political elites.

On 17 April 2021, Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko claimed he and his sons were the target of a US-backed assassination plot but did not provide any evidence.

Contrary to the claim, media outlets in the West did not silence the story about the alleged plot against Alexander Lukashenko and his accusations that the US was behind it. It was reported by Bloomberg, Deutche Welle, Radio Liberty, and many other media outlets. Media outlets in Western countries enjoy a high degree of media freedom, reflected in the top ranks occupied by these countries in respective world rankings including the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders. Pro-Kremlin outlets frequently direct attacks against many different countries for allegedly lacking free speech and imposing censorship on media, including Germany, Finland, Denmark, the Baltics, and France, among others.

See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the Belarusian opposition, civic activists and independent journalists make kill lists for Western security bodies, that Lukashenko skipped the Eastern Partnership summit in 2019 because the West could organise his killing, and that the German media and NATO portray Russia as an enemy.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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