DISINFO: Pro-Western civil society in Ukraine and Belarus is a Fascist fifth column
SUMMARY
In Ukraine, the so-called civil society and human rights organizations, financed by the Western oligarchy, military forces and intelligence services, took an active part in 2014 coup d’etat and, assisted by Fascists, waged a war against Ukrainian people and Russia. The civil society continues its destructive activities through the adoption of harmful legislation such as the bill on the media or the language law. Thus Zelenskyy largely continues Poroshenko’s policies by turning Russophobia and mass-scale human rights violations into the tool of state policy on the instruction of the fifth column. The Belarusian civil society represented by allegedly independent media and initiatives promoting Belarusian language and culture (in reality, Russophobic, pro-Polish forces), is ideologically and politically close to Fascism. Otherwise, it would notice the violation of human rights in Ukraine and glorification of Nazism in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
This is a mix of recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives undermining the statehood of Ukraine and advancing claims about the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv as a coup orchestrated by the West, Nazis in Ukraine, West's attempts to disrupt Belarus-Russia relations, and ubiquitous Russophobia in Ukraine and beyond. It also distorts the war in eastern Ukraine which is a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014. For background, read our analysis: The “Russophobia” Myth: Appealing to the Lowest Feelingsand look at earlier disinformation cases alleging that Brussels uses Russophobia as a uniting idea to prevent the EU’s collapse, and about three types of Russophobia which are turning Belarus into anti-Belarus and anti-Russian state. The message paints virtually all Belarusian organisations which do not clearly follow pro-Russian policies in any field as Russophobic. The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. Far-right groups enjoyed a very limited presence during the Euromaidan itself and had poor results in the 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections. In the 2019 election, far-right candidates fell short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament. There was no coup d’état in Ukraine. The onset of the Euromaidan protests was a spontaneous and endogenous reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden withdrawal from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. The protesters’ demands included constitutional reform, a stronger role for parliament, the formation of a government of national unity, an end to corruption, early presidential elections and an end to violence. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim here. Read similar cases alleging that Ukraine is a neo-Nazi state and Ukraine is an anti-Russian state under Western control, that the West is targeting the Union State between Belarus and Russia, and that the Belarusian opposition, civic activists and independent journalists make kill lists for Western security bodies.