DISINFO: NATO plots attack on Belarus to disrupt presidential elections
SUMMARY
NATO countries are preparing a provocation on Belarusian territory. Western intelligence services are not only conducting reconnaissance but are also working on plans for a forceful seizure of Belarusian border areas. This plan is aimed at disrupting Belarus’s presidential elections. Exiled Belarusian citizens who have already gained combat experience in Ukraine fighting for Kyiv are expected to be involved. They are planning an armed attack on Belarus, either from Ukraine or from Poland. Belarus has been aware of these plans for a long time.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about supposed Western attempts to organise a 'colour revolution' in Belarus.
There is no credible evidence that NATO countries were plotting an attack on Belarus in the run-up to its presidential elections. NATO is a defensive alliance whose mission is to protect its member states.
The presidential elections in Belarus took place on 26 January 2025. On 29 October 2024, the Statement on the so-called 2025 Presidential election in Belarus on behalf of the Bureau of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Belarus said, “We stress that elections held in the current atmosphere of fear and repression, and in conditions that are contrary to all internationally recognised standards, with no possibility for Belarusians living abroad to exercise their right to vote and stand as a candidate in the election, with no transparent system for counting of votes and without the participation of international observers, cannot be considered as fair and free".
See also the 26 January 2025 statement by the High Representative / Vice President Kaja Kallas and Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos which states:
”Today's sham election in Belarus has been neither free, nor fair. The people of Belarus deserve a real say in who governs their country."
See also our article Lukashenka’s so-called ‘presidential election’ in Belarus.
In 2020, Belarus’s ruler Aleksandr Lukashenka falsified the results of the presidential elections and started an unprecedented wave of violent political repressions against peaceful citizens. In 2021, Lukashenka orchestrated the migration crisis on the EU's border, which has been used as a political and hybrid weapon. Since 2022, the Lukashenka regime has been involved in large-scale military assistance to the aggressive Russian actions in Ukraine.
See earlier disinformation cases claiming that Poland and Lithuania directly sponsor extremist actions against Belarus, that Warsaw wants to organise a Maidan during the upcoming Belarusian 2025 elections, that Poland wants to seize western Belarus during the upcoming presidential election, and that the CIA, and Pentagon prepares Belarusian protestors in Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states.