DISINFO: UN, EU tarnish Belarus, finance opposition protests
SUMMARY
It is inadmissible to demonise and tarnish Belarus on false grounds from the UN tribune. The United Nations has used funding allocated for disabled people to support opposition protests in Belarus. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres does not know the details, but his assistants from the European Union have been acting behind his back.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media, claiming that the West has been waging a smear campaign against Belarus since last year’s presidential elections, as well as orchestrating and financing mass protests there.
In reality, Alyaksandr Lukashenka had the results of last August’s presidential elections rigged, illegally pronounced himself president in the next month and has since been using his law-enforcement agencies to crack down on political dissent in the country. The West, particularly the European Union, does not recognise the results of the vote, calls for honest elections and applies restrictive measures against Lukashenka and his inner circle. International sanctions are not aimed against the people of Belarus, they are pinpointed against its leadership instead.
It is true that some EU member states financially support independent Belarusian-staffed media. However, the West neither financed nor coordinated mass protests which swept the whole country after the Central Election Commission said that Lukashenka had won 80 per cent of the vote. The protests had gradually faded away by the end of 2020, but opposition leaders are still operating from abroad and calling for more pressure on Lukashenka and his supporters.
The Lukashenka regime is notorious for its brutal tackling of opposition leaders. There is evidence of his orders to kill political opponents back in 2000. On 23 May 2021, Lukashenka ordered the forceful landing of Ryanair flight 4978 en route from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania with Belarusian opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega on board. A Belarusian warplane was scrambled up to intercept the civilian plane by force when Ryanair flight 4978 was minutes away from the Lithuanian border on a fake threat. Pratasevich and Sapega were arrested and later appeared in forced confessing on camera. Many countries denounced the interception of the civilian plane as a ‘state hijacking’. The EU imposed sanctions on Lukashenka after that hijacking.
Read more disinformation cases about the West’s allegedly waging hybrid war against Belarus.