DISINFO: EU and US aim to generate a new wave of anti-government protests in Belarus
SUMMARY
The EU and the US aim to generate a new wave of anti-government protests in Belarus by imposing new sanctions on this country. The goal of the sanctions is to erode the quality of life of regular citizens, leading to new protests. These sanctions against entire sectors of the Belarusian industry and its big companies, on which the welfare of hundreds of thousands of Belarusians depends, can’t be explained otherwise.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about “colour revolutions” and sanctions, in this case as part of a wider disinformation campaign on the situation on the EU-Belarus border, aiming to deny Minsk’s responsibility in orchestrating the migratory crisis.
The EU did not recognise the falsified results of the Belarusian Presidential election on 9 August 2020 or the new mandate claimed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. On 2 October 2020, the Council imposed the first round of restrictive measures over ongoing repression. The EU imposed two more rounds of restrictive measures against the Belarusian regime in 2020, followed by the fourth package of sanctions in view of the escalation of serious human rights violations and the forced landing of a Ryanair flight.
On 2 December 2021, the EU adopted the 5th package of sanctions over continued human rights abuses and the instrumentalisation of migrants. The EU, UK, US, Canada issued coordinated sanctions against the Belarus regime. This came amid the growing instrumentalisation of migration by the Belarusian authorities.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that colour revolutions provoked by the US and NATO created migration crisis, that Western countries don’t prevent anti-Belarusian terrorist activities carried out from their territory, or that the West plans to push thousands of illegal migrants to Belarus using force.