DISINFO: The West is rehearsing in Belarus to hit Russia
SUMMARY
The West is rehearsing in Belarus to hit Russia. Belarus is now the EU’s punching ball because it is where the EU and NATO are training in the new Cold War.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about encircling Russia, Belarus as an innocent victim of the West and Russia as the ultimate target of international events. By framing it this way, these disinformation messages aim to deflect any criticism on the illicit actions of Russia and its allies, in this case, Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime in Belarus.
Contrary to the claim, the EU’s current policy towards Belarus is not a rehearsal to hit Russia but a reaction to the fraudulent nature of the August 2020 presidential elections in the country and the intimidation and violent repression of peaceful protesters, opposition members and journalists, as well as to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk in May 2021 that endangered aviation safety and the subsequent detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega.
See other examples in our database, such as claims that the EU tried to organise a Maidan in Belarus, that the EU wants to take the Belarusians by hunger through economic war, that the EU needed Belarus’ membership in the Eastern partnership to build an anti-Russia grouping, that Ukraine may undertake a military attack against Belarus to get Western support, that the West used the Ryanair flight incident to advance its political goals against Belarus, or that the goal of the “Ryanairgate” is to sabotage the Minsk agreements and attack Russia.