DISINFO: Belarus and the Russian Federation are parts of Russia, they will be united
SUMMARY
Russian government resigned because its economic theory was not functional. If so, an appointment of a new government increases chances for deeper integration of two parts of Russia. Both the Russian Federation and Belarus are parts of Russia. Sooner or later the country will be united.
RESPONSE
This is an extreme variation of recurring pro-Kremlin propagandistic narrative about Belarus as an integral part of the Russian world. The latter is based on the concept of all-Russian civilisation, an imperial Russian and Russian irredentist ideology that is a favoured pro-Kremlin narrative aimed at weakening the national identity of Belarusians as well as Ukrainians.
Belarus is a well-defined nation-state with a long history, which preserved its language, literature and identity, despite foreign rule for long periods. The Rus- part of the country's name, contrary to popular belief, does not originate from Russia. Instead, the names for both Russia and Belarus derive from an Old Norse term for "the men who row," because Scandinavian people had a significant impact on state formation in eastern Europe from eighth to eleventh centuries AD.
Read earlier disinformation cases claiming that Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine are three Russian political nations, that three types of Russophobia are turning Belarus into an anti-Belarus and anti-Russian state, and that Belarus faces either normal development under Russia or a forced Polonization and economic devastation.