Disinfo: Protests in Belarus are coordinated by Western countries and the opposition wants bloodshed

Summary

Ongoing protests in Belarus are coordinated from the West which wants to transform the country to meet its interests. The Belarusian opposition located in Western countries does not want the protests to be peaceful but rather seeks bloodshed. Tsikhanouskaya is now under pressure in Lithuania.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about protests in Belarus. The European Union has not recognised the election because of widespread reports of vote-rigging. European Council President Charles Michel stated that “[t]he protests in Belarus are not about geopolitics. This is about the right of the People to freely elect their leadership”. The protests do not have a co-ordinator but are rather organised locally in reaction to current events. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is now referred to as the opposition leader. She was the other presidential candidate who left for Lithuania after detention and pressure in Belarus and is now safe according to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius. She has called for an end to the violence and for peaceful protests. She also urged the current Belarusian authorities to engage in a dialogue with the protesters to resolve the situation. See similar cases claiming that the actions of the protesters in Belarus are controlled by foreign centres, that the West is using the "colour revolutions" methodologies in Belarus or that USA, NATO and EU want to dictate a regime-change to the people of Belarus.

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cz.sputniknews.com (Archived)
cz.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 210
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23/08/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Czech
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Belarus, Russia
  • Keywords: Protest, Colour revolutions
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Disinfo: Ukraine refuses a visa-free regime with Belarus

Ukraine refuses a visa-free policy with Belarus. “Developing relations” with Belarus, Kyiv cancelled visa-free travelling. The State Border Service of Ukraine warns: from September 1, a governmental decree on the suspension of the Agreement between Ukraine and Belarus on visa-free travel for citizens comes into force.

Aug 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation attempts to discredit Ukraine. Ukraine did not refuse a "visa-free" policy with Belarus. Ukrainians can still travel to Belarus without a visa. According to the decision of the government, starting from September 1, 2020, Kyiv will cancel entrance into Belarus with identity cards, which Ukrainians could previously use to enter Belarus. Instead, citizens will need to provide a Ukrainian passport. This will improve the protection of Ukrainian citizens, reduce the time at border control, resolve the issue of information verification and improve border control procedures.

Disinfo: The Guardian challenges Poland’s right to export “democracy” to Belarus

The Polish government is persistently trying to overthrow Alyaksandr Lukashenka. In its controversial aspirations, Warsaw is hiding behind brave mottos about defending democracy in neighbouring Belarus, while in Poland itself democracy is having a difficult time, writes The Guardian. Recently, Poland and Belarus celebrated presidential elections. Though nobody calls Andrzej Duda “a dictator” after his reelection, he and his ruling Law and Justice Party are putting liberal values to a stress test.

Aug 22, 2020
Disproof

This is a deliberate distortion of the original article published in The Guardian, which, though critical on the Polish government, doesn’t include any of the sentences stated above, does not criticise Poland’s stance regarding Belarus, and does not compare the two countries in any sense. Pro-Kremlin media frequently resort to this manipulative technique of quoting sentences from serious publications and then introduce a distorted message as if it was part of the original article. See other examples in our database, such as false claims that British outlet The Guardian pointed out to ruling elite as the real instigators of the racial crisis in the US or reported that the EU remained silent as the Europeans couldn’t buy food for the first time in 75 years; that Newsweek magazine explained how US coup in Iran will end; that Soros’ structures saw an opportunity in the coronavirus pandemic to attack the “bad guys”; that the US National Counterintelligence and Security Centre put Wikileaks at the same threat level as jihadist organisations in its last report; or that the US special envoy for Syria admitted that Washington’s goal was to defend terrorists from Russian attacks.

Disinfo: US Senate's report about Russian meddling in US presidential elections is lacking facts

US Senate’s report that Russia interfered with the US presidential elections is empty and devoid of facts. Moscow has repeatedly commented on these allegations, noting their absolutely unfounded character. Due to the American ambitions and desire to stir up Russophobic sentiments, the bilateral dialogue was seriously damaged. Further implantation of anti-Russian myths will not bring success to anyone. Russia has repeatedly denied US allegations of “meddling” in the 2016 presidential election.

Aug 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative attempting to depict accusations of Russian meddling in Western democratic processes as factually unfounded and driven by "Russophobia". Electoral interference by Russia has been extensively documented in numerous countries around the world. The independent research, media investigations and parliamentary inquiries point out to evidence linking Russian state actors with interference in various electoral processes, including the 2016 US presidential elections, Brexit vote, in the 2017 French Presidential elections, in the 2017 German Parliamentary elections, etc. The list of essential research and analysis about the Kremlin's election meddling effort can be found here. The latest US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report found that the earlier Intelligence Community Assessment presented "a coherent and well-constructed intelligence basis for the case of unprecedented Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election". See similar cases claiming that The notion of “Russian influence” in the US is an absurd conspiracy theory, or that Claims about Russia’s interference into US elections are unfounded, that Allegations of Russian meddling in US elections are absolutely insane, or that the West falsely accuses Russia of election meddling.