DISINFO: Ukraine is West's bridgehead to export a colour revolution to Belarus
SUMMARY
Speaking about international isolation of Belarus, the Western countries imposed political and economic sanctions, and Kyiv partly aligned with them. The collective West, as well as Ukraine tailing after it, instead of recognising the results of the Belarusian presidential elections, started artificially inflating Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
The hybrid attack against Belarus ultimately targeted the Belarus-Russia alliance. The Ukrainian authorities blatantly violated an unspoken pact with Minsk, which required Ukraine to abstain from the role of a bridgehead of the colour revolution to Belarus.
RESPONSE
This article promotes recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Belarus protests as being organised and controlled from abroad and as the West's attempt to organise a colour revolution. It is also consistent with pro-Kremlin narratives about the West's activities to disrupt Belarusian-Russian relations and Ukraine as a Western puppet.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba announced Ukraine's readiness to line up with the EU sanctions on Belarus. However, there is no evidence that Kyiv was forced by the West to do so, just as the claim about a West-driven colour revolution is groundless. There is no evidence that the EU, US, or Ukraine launched the so-called hybrid attack or were in any way involved in the protests in Belarus. Large-scale protests began in Minsk on August 9 against the results of the presidential election and then spread in other cities. People revolted against election fraud and police violence towards thousands of rally participants.
According to statistical data and independent observers, the official result of the presidential election was itself heavily doctored. A joint monitoring effort by three NGOs demonstrates the scale of falsification based on election protocols from 1,310 polling stations across Belarus and concludes that the announced result (80% of votes cast for Lukashenka) is mathematically "impossible" (p. 7). An analysis by the Novaya Gazeta newspaper shows that excluding "anomalous" voting districts from the official tally would see Lukashenka's percentage drop to 43%, and Tsikhanouskaya's surge to 45%, in which case a second round would have to be called.
See earlier disinformation cases alleging that imperialistic Poland and Lithuania are the springboards for Belarusian Maidan, that CIA and Pentagon prepare Belarusian protestors in Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states, that the Belarusian protests are managed from Ukraine and NATO countries, and that Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania are an anti-Belarusian ram.