September 03, 2020
Disinformation Alignment
Belarusian and Russian state-controlled media have been tweaking and polishing their disinformation narratives, to align them to the same tune.
Belarus
In August 2020, Belarusians took to the streets to protest the results of a rigged presidential election. The protests soon became the largest in the country’s history and were eventually violently supressed, with tens of thousands arrested, beaten and prosecuted. Extensive disinformation campaigns continue to enable and accompany the brutality of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime against its own citizens, independent media and civil society.
The Belarusian state-controlled media have been complicit in the brutal crackdown on dissent in the country. Forced, televised “confessions” from political prisoners is just one of many examples, illustrating that state-controlled media have become an extension of a repressive state apparatus in Belarus. We also observed how the Belarusian state-controlled media aided Belarusian officials in weaponising migration into the EU.
Furthermore, the Lukashenka regime and its media apparatus have been instrumental in supporting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Belarusian authorities have repressed social media as well – for example by declaring many popular independent Telegram channels as “extremist material”.
At the same time, pro-Kremlin outlets continue to support and facilitate disinformation campaigns in and around Belarus, falsely accusing the West of engineering a “colour revolution”, claiming that the democratic Belarusian opposition is a “puppet of the West”, and labelling pro-democracy supporters as “zmagars”, extremists, terrorists and Nazi disciples.
The East Stratcom Task Force has been closely observing the media and disinformation landscape in Belarus. Below is our collection of articles on disinformation and information manipulation targeting democratic Belarus, exercised both by Lukashenka’s and Putin’s ecosystems of information manipulation.
50 articles
September 02, 2020
Figure of the week: 6 billion
Russian and Belarusian state media rely on a growing number of bogus “international experts” to legitimize disinformation about the protests in Belarus
August 31, 2020
C’mon, Let’s Ignore!
The English-language segment of pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets is surprisingly indifferent towards the ongoing events in Belarus.
August 27, 2020
Freedom as an Imperialist Scheme
The pro-Kremlin media is consumed by the fear of freethinking and independent people, so it is busy reducing them to unwitting pawns played by powerful puppet-masters. Blunt force and lies can subdue the protests, but it can never prevail.
August 21, 2020
Protests through the eyes of Belarusian censorship
Narratives used by Belarusian media claim that President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is the guarantor of economic stability and order while the opposition and the West will bring only chaos.
August 20, 2020
Colour revolutions everywhere: pro-Kremlin media covers popular protests
Pro-Kremlin media relies on a set of established disinformation narratives to cover popular protests around the world
August 13, 2020
Pro-Kremlin Disinformation and Elections in Belarus
Free and fair elections in Russia’s neighbourhood remain the Kremlin's biggest fear.
May 21, 2020
The Belarusian Approach to the Outbreak
Belarus’ defiant attitude towards the COVID-19 outbreak has caught the world’s attention. A particular Belarusian brand of disinformation involves the claim that the Belarusian opposition deliberately and on instructions from "The West" is attempting to spread the virus.
August 12, 2019
Your Friendly Local pro-Kremlin Outlet: Disinformation in Belarus
Pro-Kremlin disinformation increasingly exploits Belarusians' trust in local news to question sovereignty of Belarus and undermine its people, language and culture.
July 04, 2019
Russophobia, Dependence, and the Belarusian Gay-Opposition
Last week, the pro-Kremlin media claimed that Russophobia is Lithuania's main export. In reality, it's mineral fuels and machinery. But this case offers a great opportunity to ask, what's the main "export" of the pro-Kremlin media?
