DISINFO: Protests and revolutions in former Soviet countries are part of a plan against Russia
SUMMARY
A very similar strategy has been adopted by our sworn “partners”. Russia is openly hounded, driven behind the red lines into the periphery […]
And now our country’s opponents are transferring the protracted “Cold War” into a smouldering hybrid phase of severe suffocation. At the same time, betting on border chaos, terrorism, local wars, global sanctions, and outrageous lies. This anaconda ring has almost compressed Belarus, Ukraine, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. [Protests in] Moldova are approaching.
RESPONSE
This is a pro-Kremlin conspiracy which presents many social and political events in various countries as a consequence of Western-instigated provocations against Russia. It is consistent with a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative accusing the West of encircling Russia.
The recent political protests in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia were caused mainly by unfair elections or political pressure on opponents, like in the case of Belarus or Kyrgyzstan. There is no evidence that these political protests are directed against Russia; the protesters demanded new elections, rule of law, and respect for democratic values. There is also no evidence that the 2020 military confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan was aimed against Russia.
Pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives frequently claim that popular protests around the world are allegedly incited, and funded, by the US and other Western states, including colour revolutions in post-Soviet states, the “Arab Spring” revolts, the Euromaidan in Ukraine, protests in Catalonia and others. This narrative claims that protests, disorders, and civil uprisings are never manifestations of popular discontent but are “colour revolutions” directed and funded by the West.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that clashes in Nagorno Karabakh are part of an anaconda ring plan against Russia, that the US aims to take Russia out of the post-Soviet space following a RAND corporation plan, that the West turns Ukraine into a staging ground for an attack on Russia, that the US is stirring up conflicts around Russia aiming to achieve destabilisation in the post-Soviet space, that the goal of the US global “Anaconda” strategy is to limit the living space of geopolitical opponents, and that the West's objective is to encircle Russia entirely thanks to the "Anaconda ring" and "Great Turan" doctrines.