Disinfo: Pratasevich participated in Euromaidan organised by US and the EU and fought alongside neo-Nazis

Summary

Pratasevich is not really an “altar boy.” In 2014, he participated in the violent Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine organised by Washington and Brussels. He then spent a year in the Donbas, battling alongside the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion among others.

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative aiming at discrediting Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich.

There is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Pratasevich ever participated in the military activity of the Azov paramilitary battalion. Pratasevich himself said in an interview with a Russian journalist in 2020 that he had been in the war zone in Eastern Ukraine as a freelance journalist. He was also in Maidan. He said that he neither threw stones nor took part in clashes, but he was hit by the then riot police (the Berkut).

Various manipulated/photoshopped images are also being circulated by dubious sources suggesting Mr Pratasevich connection with this or that event.

Raman Pratasevich was detained in Minsk airport when flying from Athens to Vilnius. On Sunday, May 23, 2021, the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to turn back before crossing the Lithuanian border and land in the Belarusian capital. The pretext for landing in Minsk was a false report about the bomb on board. At the moment when the plane changed course, it was closer to Vilnius airport than to Minsk. The plane was forced by a Belarusian military aircraft to land in Minsk. Raman Pratasevich was detained during a repeated security check of passengers.

The EU condemned Belarusian action against civil plane and the detention of Pratasevich. In a declaration on behalf of the EU on the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 to Minsk on 23 May 2021, the High Representative called for the immediate release of Mr Pratasevich. This was followed by a European Council statement, in which the EU leaders called for targeted individual and economic sanctions as well as to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by these. On 4 June 2021, the European Council introduced a ban on the overflight of EU airspace and on access to EU airports by Belarusian carriers of all kinds.

This disinformation claim is related to a broader disinformation narrative on Nazi's power in Ukraine. See related examples of disinformation claims here. For further reading, see here for an overview of the ongoing pro-Kremlin campaign to label Pratasevich as a neo-Nazi.

The claim that the Euromaidan protests were organised by Western capitals is another recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Euromaidan and the war in Ukraine.

Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Raman Pratasevich is a neo-Nazi; that Raman Pratasevich is suspected of genocide and terror; that Raman Pratasevich fought alongside neo-Nazis in the Donbas war.

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arabic.realtribune.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 249
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 27/05/2021
  • Article language(s) Arabic
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Belarus, Ukraine, EU, US
  • Keywords: Azov Battalion, Nazi/Fascist, Euromaidan, Ryanair Flight 4978, Raman Pratasevich
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Disinfo: White Americans may be deprived of their legal and constitutional rights, even their lives

White Americans could be deprived not only of their legal and constitutional rights, but also of their lives. Civil war is the only way to prevent America's traitors, who deprive white citizens of their constitutional rights, from overthrowing the United States.

May 26, 2021
Disproof

This article contains recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about the alleged victimisation of white Americans, about the current US government's alleged hostility towards the white American population, and about an imminent new American civil war and disintegration of the United States. These disinformation narratives have been frequently spread by pro-Kremlin outlets since the US racial justice protests erupted in May-June of 2020.

Strengthening societal divisions in the US and in other Western nations is a key goal of pro-Kremlin disinformation and, according to an in-depth analysis by European Parliament, pro-Kremlin actors used racial issues to stoke tensions in the 2016 presidential election and the 2018 mid-term elections .

Disinfo: Moldova's authorities and their external partners are preparing massive fraud in early elections

Moldova's authorities and their external partners abroad are preparing massive fraud in early [parliamentary] elections.

In recent days, we have witnessed the unprecedented activity of the authorities and representatives of the West regarding the massive participation of the diaspora in early parliamentary elections. Under pressure from the West, the Moldovan authorities are going to open even more polling stations abroad, but who will control the voting process?

May 26, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about elections and Moldova.

The aim of this narrative is to discredit Moldova's pro-European parties as well as the country's Western partners. See here a similar case saying that the West interfered in Moldova to help Maia Sandu win the presidential elections and here a case claiming that Maia Sandu won thanks to election fraud, which was a success of the "collective West".

Disinfo: The West is interfering in the Syrian elections by not recognising them

The US is interfering in the Syrian elections. Without waiting for election day, the US and its European allies affirmed that the election won’t be free nor fair. In a joint declaration, the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the US called the international community to reject what they labelled as an “attempt of the Al Assad regime to regain legitimacy without ending its serious human rights violations”. If that is not interference, then what is interference?

What we are observing here is Western ‘democracy’ in action. To understand what they want for Syria, it is enough to look at what they did in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and many other countries. They call themselves defenders of rights and freedoms while they kill people all over the world. They funded and continue funding terrorism in countries like Syria. It is proven that extremists have the support of the US and its Western allies.

May 26, 2021
Disproof

This disinformation narrative appeared around the presidential election in Syria on 26 May 2021.

Presidential elections in Syria were announced on 18 April and held on 26 May. On 3 May, the Constitutional Court announced that it had accepted only three candidates (including Bashar al-Assad) and rejected 48 candidacies for “failing to meet constitutional and legal requirements”.