DISINFO: The West is creating a belt of instability around Russia
SUMMARY
The West is trying to create a circle of instability around Russia, forcing its neighbours and brother peoples to pick sides. It wants to exploit the territories around it militarily, economically and in other ways, establishing a sanitary cordon and exerting influence in these bordering countries. This has been shown in Ukraine, though there have also been attempts to try a colour revolution in Belarus. In this geopolitical combat, the US and the EU didn’t refuse either to make propaganda openly during the electoral campaign in Moldova.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about a besieged Russia and alleged Western attempts to destabilise it, and about popular protests as foreign-orchestrated colour revolutions.
The claim that the West is somehow trying to encircle Russia is false. Western governments have had no role in triggering events in countries neighbouring Russia, though they have reacted to the actions of the Kremlin undermining international stability and security in the region, such as the illegal annexation of Crimea, its role in orchestrating a war in Eastern Ukraine or its backing of repression against peaceful demonstrators in Belarus, including the hijacking of civilian Ryanair flight 4978.
Popular protests in Ukraine and Belarus were the result of local discontent. In the case of Ukraine, mobilisations erupted as an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. Fatigue from corruption, pressure on business, voluntary or forced closures, dissatisfaction with the government's economic policy - for many Euromaidan participants, these reasons also became motives for joining the protests (see here for further debunking). In Belarus, protests were a response to the presidential election of 9 August 2020, which were not monitored by independent experts, and are largely considered fraudulent by both international observers and a large part of the Belarusian society (see here for further debunking).
Contrary to the claim, the US and the EU didn’t make any “propaganda” nor interfere in the recent elections in Moldova. This allegation is a repetition of recurring disinformation narratives about politics and elections in this country, where Moscow backed the pro-Russian Bloc of Communists and Socialists against pro-European president Maia Sandu, a frequent target of pro-Kremlin disinformation. This disinformation message aims to discredit Sandu’s government by trying to present its victory as the result of Western meddling (see here for further debunking).
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the West is creating a “Fire Belt” around Russia through protests in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, that the West is rehearsing in Belarus to hit Russia, that Ukrainian protests were a coup, that if Moldova tries to stay closer to Russia there will be a colour revolution as in Belarus, that the EU needed Belarus’ membership in the Eastern partnership to build an anti-Russia grouping, that Ukraine may undertake a military attack against Belarus to get Western support, or that NATO is preparing colour revolutions in several CSTO countries.