DISINFO: Poland and Lithuania are destabilising Belarus to turn it into a Russophobic limitrophe
SUMMARY
Poland is coordinating Belarusian protests through the internet, whereas Lithuania creates organisational structures for Belarusian opposition. The goals of the Baltic states and Poland is to bring their pupils to power. Poland and Lithuania wish to take the whole or part of Belarus under their control. To get Belarus under complete control, they need a full-fledged colour revolution with the replacement of elites, change of economic model, ideology, historical memory and geopolitical alliances. In this case, Belarus will turn into a Russophobic limitrophe. Poland, Lithuania and Latvia will become Belarus’s curators with EU and US indulgence.
RESPONSE
This publication promotes recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Belarus protests as being organised and controlled from abroad, particularly from Poland and Lithuania, about West's attempt to organise a colour revolution, and about Russophobia in Poland and the Baltic states and their “puppet-state” status. There is no evidence that Poland, the Baltic states or any other Western governments are involved in any way in the protests in Belarus. Large-scale protests began in Minsk on August 9 against the results of the presidential election, and then in other cities. People revolted against election fraud and police violence towards thousands of rally participants. According to statistical data and independent observers, the official result of the presidential election was itself heavily doctored. A joint monitoring effort by three NGOs demonstrates the scale of falsification based on election protocols from 1,310 polling stations across Belarus and concludes that the announced result (80% of votes cast for Lukashenka) is mathematically "impossible" (p. 7). An analysis by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper shows that excluding "anomalous" voting districts from the official tally would see Lukashenka's percentage drop to 43%, and Tsikhanouskaya's surge to 45%, in which case a second round would have to be called. “We are extremely alarmed at the hundreds of allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in police custody,” UN human rights experts said, citing reports of 450 documented cases. The European Council condemned, on 19 August 2020, the violence against peaceful protesters and announced that it would soon adopt a list of sanctions for those responsible for violence in Belarus. "As the elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair, and did not meet international standards, the EU does not recognize the results presented by the Belarus authorities," is mentioned in a European Council press release. See earlier disinformation cases claiming that the West supports a bloody post-election Maidan scenario in Belarus, that the West's only interest in Belarus is to make it anti-Russian, and that Belarus moves towards complete colonization by the West.