Disinfo: Czech allegations against Russia aim to overshadow failed attempt on Lukashenka's life

Summary

The US State Department immediately declared that they are not involved in any plot to make an attempt on [Lukashenka's life]. That is, they are not denying the conspiracy itself but only declared that they are not involved. However, who is going to believe the Americans now? In an absolutely similar manner, they were denying their involvement in the coup attempts in Venezuela and in the attempt on Maduro's life.

The US pretends that nothing has happened and the case of the detained US citizen is planned to be dealt with as normal. However, judging by the events that immediately took place in Czechia, the United States admitted its failure. The thing is that Czechia, all of a sudden, announced that military warehouses on its territory were blown up by Russians back in 2014. This whole story is meant to serve as a cover-up for the failed coup d'etat in Belarus.

Disproof

An unsubstantiated claim about the explosion of an ammunition depot in Czechia in 2014, attempting to ridicule the revelations about GRU's involvement as an 'American attempt to cover a failed attempt on Lukashenka's life'. The second claim is also not supported by any evidence.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the temporary Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Hamáček announced on 17 April that the Czech intelligence services collected evidence demonstrating Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion. More specifically, it implicates Unit 29155, a division of Russia's GRU agency previously linked to "assassination attempts and other subversive actions across Europe." According to Mr Babiš, the first discussions around the GRU’s involvement took place on the 7th of April 2021.

Prague's findings were independently corroborated in the course of an investigation jointly conducted by Bellingcat, The Insider (Russia), Der Spiegel (Germany), and Respekt.cz (Czech Republic). Bellingcat announced already in 2020 that members of Unit 29155 were present in Czechia during the period when a large arms depot exploded in northern Moravia. In this regard, claims that the current tensions in Czechia-Russia relations have something to do with the US or an alleged assassination plot against Lukashenka in April 2021 (announced by the FSB on the 17th of April 2021) are groundless.

One of the two suspects in the assassination plot against Lukashenka detained by the FSB is a lawyer who has dual American-Belarusian citizenship. This fact does not mean, however, that the US officials were involved in the alleged plot, which is tied to an online Zoom discussion from last summer. There are suspicions that the arrests of two men is a provocation.

As for the claim about a US-backed coup in Venezuela, this is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative. Similar disinformation cases claimed that the West tried to carry out a coup in Venezuela or that the EU is an accomplice of the US in the Venezuelan coup. Back in 2018, several Venezuelan NGOs, such as Foro Penal Venezolano, Súmate, Voto Joven and the Citizen Electoral Network, expressed their concern over the irregularities of the electoral process in the presidential elections from May 2018. The European Union, the Organization of American States, the Lima Group, Australia and the United States expressed their concerns about the electoral process as well.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 240
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 19/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Czech Republic, Russia, Belarus
  • Keywords: Dmitry Peskov, Alexander Lukashenko, Vrbetice explosion
see more

Disinfo: Expulsion of Russian diplomats from Czechia is aimed at discrediting the Sputnik V and “Rosatom”

May the expulsion of the Russian diplomats [from Czechia] be connected to the construction of a new energy block at the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant? The [Czech] opposition and secret services stand against the participation of the Russian company “Rosatom” in this tender. This situation is an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, discrediting both the supplier of the Sputnik V vaccine and the “Rosatom”. That is why the anti-Russian campaign is being revived in order to reach these goals. Such developments as the Skripal poisoning and the Malaysian Boeing have one thing in common – neither of them was investigated and the sanctions were introduced with the violation of all principles of the civilized world. Unfortunately, we have become a part of a barbaric world.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative denying the participation of the Russian special services in the Vrbetice ammunition explosion in Czechia.

The claim that the decision of the Czech authorities to expel the Russian diplomats in protest against the Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion is an alleged Czech attempt to “discredit the Sputnik V and the “Rosatom” is a manipulation.

Disinfo: Warsaw is using the Polish minority in Belarus to serve geopolitical games of Washington

Warsaw periodically is using Polish national minorities for the realisation of topical geopolitical tasks linked to Washington's instructions.

In his famous book “The Great Chessboard” one of the creators of Washington's foreign policy Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote about the potential of the use of ethnic conflict in the post-Soviet area for destabilisation of Russia's near abroad.

It explains why Warsaw is riding the wave against the country, which is participating in the Eurasian integration. It is Polish input into the new Cold War. Warsaw is ready to fight against Moscow till the last Pole in Belarus.

Disproof

Recurring disinformation against Poland portraying this state as vassal and puppet of the US.

Throughout March 2021, the authoritarian authorities of Belarus arrested a number of representatives of the Polish minority living in Belarus under various fake accusations (such as “rehabilitation of Nazism” and “incitement to national hatred”). The list of arrested persons includes the leader of the Belarusian Union of Poles Anzhelika Borys, a journalist Andrzej Poczobut and several teachers from local Polish schools. Some of the arrested activists may be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. Read more about the situation around arrested representatives of the Polish minority living in Belarus here.

Disinfo: Eastern Europe is used by Anglo-Saxons to isolate Russia

The so-called "New Europe", is the conglomerate of countries of Eastern Europe, which is nothing but a fief of the United States of America, and an American Trojan horse inside the European Union, and that "Europe" specifically is what the Anglo-Saxons use to isolate Russia.

Disproof

This is a mix of recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about lost sovereignty/external control, Western Russophobia and anti-Russian activities, and about the US presence in Europe.

Pro-Kremlin media often use the term “Anglo-Saxons” to portray the West as “evil”, “belligerent” and “morally corrupt” and to reinforce the idea that Russia belongs to a different civilization, as explained in our earlier analysis.