DISINFO: Pratasevich is a “sacred sacrifice” in the US plan of the hostile takeover of Belarus
SUMMARY
Belarus has become a national interest of the United States, which “disturbs the water” through its vassal allies trying to repeat the Ukrainian scenario in this country. Before, there was a hostile takeover of Ukraine under the pretext of democratic principles and Human Rights. There is a decision to implement the same step towards Belarus under the pretext of the forced plane landing with a “sacred sacrifice” on board.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the forced diversion and landing of Ryanair flight 4978 and the arrest of a Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich.
The claim that the situation around the Ryanair flight and Raman Pratasevich was somehow staged by the USA in order to “take over” Belarus and repeat the “Maidan” scenario in this country is ungrounded.
Pratasevich became a target of the Belarusian regime due to his role as a co-founder of the opposition Nexta channel on Telegram, which played an important role in providing information and broadcasting huge opposition protests against electoral fraud perpetrated by Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in 2020. Pratasevich fled Belarus for Poland in 2019 due to pressure from the authorities. He later relocated to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is also based due to Belarus government pressure against her.
On 23 May 2021, Belarusian authorities orchestrated the forced landing in Minsk of the Ryanair flight that was carrying out Pratasevich from Athens to Vilnius in order to snatch him. The incident, which included a fake bomb alert and the implicit threat of downing the flight by a Belarusian Mig-29, has been deemed as a serious breach of international aviation law and denounced as an act of “piracy” and “state-sponsored hijacking” by Ryanair.
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. On 4 June 2021, the European Council introduced a ban on the overflight of EU airspace and on access to EU airports by Belarusian carriers of all kinds.
After Pratasevich arrest, pro-Kremlin outlets launched a wide disinformation campaign about the incident. See other examples in our database, such as claims that Belarus acted in strict accordance with international law in the Ryanair incident, that Hamas sent an email to Minsk airport, that the security service of Ukraine could have set up the incident to harm Belarus, that Roman Protasevich is a professional media extremist, or that the Ryanair case is similar to the forced landing of Evo Morales’s plane.