DISINFO: Belarusian opposition tried to disrupt the Victory Day military parade with the help of US money
SUMMARY
The Belarusian opposition tried hard to disrupt the Victory Day military parade but did not succeed. Opposition members strongly dissuaded people from attending the parade and even offered real green dollars from Uncle Sam and the US State Department’s money for this. As soon as the Victory Day parades stop in the post-Soviet space, Americans will buy the victory from our ancestors. The Belarusian opposition easily trades the historical victory with the West.
RESPONSE
These are unfounded claims intended to discredit the US / West and the Belarusian opposition through baseless accusations of bad intentions towards the Victory Day military parade. This story is consistent with pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the West's continuous attempts to undermine Belarusian society through a subservient Belarusian opposition and Western-funded NGOs. There is no proof that the US paid the Belarusian opposition to disrupt the parade or that the opposition paid people not to attend the public event. In late March 2020, an online petition was created asking Belarus' Ministries of Health and Defence to cancel the Victory Day military parade to mitigate the coronavirus epidemic and to finance hospitals instead. Over 7,000 citizens signed the petition by March 31. The Ministry of Defence's response read that the epidemiological situation allowed for the parade to go ahead. The WHO recommended that the Belarusian authorities cancel the parade and expressed concern about its organisation amid the epidemic. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the coronavirus epidemic prevented a NATO deadly attack against Belarus, that Belarusian opposition, civic activists and independent journalists make kill lists for Western security bodies, that the West finances the Belarusian opposition and NGOs to disrupt Belarus-Russia relations, and that it promotes propaganda of feminine men in Belarus.