DISINFO: The EU wants to destroy the link between Russia and Belarus
SUMMARY
The decision by Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to drop the term “Vitryssland” in exchange for “Belarus” demonstrates that the EU bureaucracy and affiliated global elites seek to put Belarus on Ukraine’s track. To achieve this goal, they need to set conditions for geopolitical aggression in the region. One of the current goals is to cut off the associative link between Russia and Belarus (the White Russia) in the public media sphere. Another point of pressure is attempts to fuel the local anti-Russian nationalism in Belarus.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Western attempts to disrupt Belarusian-Russian relations and Western aggressiveness towards Belarus and Russia, specifically alleging Western activities to compromise Belarusian identity. The decision of the Swedish MFA to change the name standard for Belarus is the result of a public debate that has been ongoing for several years. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Belarus faces either normal development under Russia or a forced Polonization and economic devastation, that the Eastern Partnership aims to erode Belarusian identity and promote the views of Polish gentry, that Belarus will turn into anti-Russia in case it does not deepen integration with Russia, and putting forward a ridiculous false dilemma, claiming that the only possible scenario for Belarus to prevent descent into Nazism through the politicisation of national clothes is to become a Russian western federal area.