Disinfo: The protests in Belarus are a colour revolution conducted according to Maidan scenario

Summary

[The protests in Belarus] are a colour revolution, completely according to the scenario of Kiyv’s Maidan. The protesters have been trained by the Western governments. This situation has been pre-arranged to raise doubts about the legitimacy of Lukasehenko’s victory.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about colour revolutions. Protests in Belarus erupted after thousands of people took to the streets to contest the results of presidential election in Belarus, that are considered fraudulent by a large part of society. The European Union has said that the elections were neither free nor fair: "State authorities deployed disproportionate and unacceptable violence causing at least one death and many injuries. Thousands of people were detained and the crackdown on freedoms of assembly, media and expression intensified. We call on the Belarusian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all detained. Furthermore, credible reports of domestic observers show that the electoral process did not meet the international standards expected of an OSCE participating State." This disinformation message appeared in the same TV broadcast as the claims that EU reaction to Lukashenko's presidential win is an example of Western double standards. See previous disinformation cases alleging that the EU continues to support a colour revolution in Belarus; the EU provoked a civil war in Ukraine, now it destabilises Belarus; Belarusian opposition wants to turn Belarus into the 51st state of the US.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 207
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 10/08/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Belarus
  • Keywords: Colour revolutions
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Disinfo: No more police in Seattle because of BLM

In Seattle, which until recently was one of the best cities in the United States, and where vandals operated, there will be no police force anymore, as it was decided to disband it. “Black Lives Matter” and liberal extremists who sympathise with this movement, are demanding an end to the funding of the police or for it to be abolished.

Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that depicts the racial justice protests in the US as the disintegration of the country. The article states that the anti-racist protests in the US are provoking a collapse of public order in Seattle. This claim does not reflect reality. ِAccording to the Washington Post, “Defunding the police” does not mean zeroing out budgets for public safety. It means shrinking the scope of police responsibilities and shifting most of what government does to keep (people) safe to entities that are better equipped to meet that need. It means investing more in mental-health care and housing and expanding the use of community mediation and violence interruption programs. From this same angle, Seattle is cutting down its funding to the police department, “We are going to continue to work to right-size the department," said Budget Chair Teresa Mosqueda. Moreover, the council “is chipping away .. a little from the SWAT team here, a little over there from homeland security ... They’re also.. cutting other positions that don’t fight crime, like community outreach and public relations”. Read previous cases claiming that civil war is possible in the US and Biden is already talking about a coup d’état and that the idea of a global black Caliphate could arise from the protests.

Disinfo: Poland is a US project

Mike Pompeo is going to visit the European Union. It is possible that Pompeo is indeed having conversations that will destabilise the European Union as a constitution. Poland is a US project.

Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the US presence in Europe, alleging that the United States fully controls the foreign policy of other nations, especially EU member states, including Poland. Poland has close political relations with the United States, but this fact does not impact its independence nor membership of the European Union. Poland is a sovereign state, which shapes its own foreign and domestic policies. The political, economic and military relations between Poland and the United States have a mutually beneficial character. According to official sources, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to tour Central and Eastern European capitals next week to discuss the redeployment of American troops in Europe. See other examples of this message claiming that Polish policy towards Ukraine is shaped by the Americans, the US keeps Poland on a short anti-Russian leash, and Poland is a Trojan Horse of the United States.

Disinfo: The Law of Spikelets in the USSR did not kill citizens, but defended socialist property from plunder

Anti-Soviet people like to talk about the allegedly innocent “tortured, arrested and executed” because of the Law of Spikelets, which allegedly provided for terrible punishment to all who, in difficult conditions, would dare to cut one wheat from the field in order to survive. And on this basis, they begin to assert (their opinion) about the “cruel” and “totalitarian” communist system, about the “crimes of Stalinism”, about the “sadism of the NKVDs”, etc. The law of 7 August 1932 spoke about the inadmissibility of plundering socialist property.

Disproof

The decree of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the protection of property of state enterprises, collective farms and cooperatives and the strengthening of public (socialist) property" appeared on 7 August 1932. The authorship of the document is personally attributed to Joseph Stalin. Among the population, the decree of the Soviet leadership is better known as the Law of Spikelets. The law became a consistent continuation of the Soviet policy of the so-called "collectivisation", which began back in the 1920s. It was the Law of Spikelets that became the last straw in plundering the population of the USSR: the Soviet regime created an artificial famine in Ukraine, which affected parts of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Russia. The Stalinist regime used confiscation of food as a weapon of mass destruction - food was forcibly taken from farmers. The famine of 1932-1933 claimed the lives of 7 to 10 million citizens of the Soviet Union. In 1933, mortality in Ukraine became catastrophic, 28,000 people died every day, 1168 people every hour, 20 Ukrainians every minute. In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada officially recognised the Holodomor of 1932-33 as the genocide of the Ukrainian people. According to the latest data, 15 UN member states and the Vatican state recognise the Holodomor genocide act in Ukraine. The European Parliament and PACE have recognised the Holodomor as a crime of the Soviet regime against their own people and a crime against humanity.