DISINFO: West interferes in the internal affairs of Russia and Belarus to prevent the integration
SUMMARY
Russia reacted to the statements of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg about the readiness "to protect each member of the alliance from the threat emanating from Moscow and Minsk".
"Here is the answer to the question why the West has taken up Belarus so furiously. Normal effective interaction between the two countries is not included in NATO's plans. It is necessary to constantly interfere in the internal affairs of one country, then another, then at the same time to climb to both, just to prevent the natural course of mutually beneficial integration."
RESPONSE
This article promotes recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about NATO and Western attempts to disrupt Belarus-Russia relations.
Мost of the world community demand that Russia and Belarus fulfil their obligations as members of the UN, the OSCE and other international organisations, respect the international law, as well as their own legislation. This has nothing to do with the collaboration between Russia and Belarus which nobody is preventing.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Moscow and Minsk against activities that would destabilise the alliance's eastern flank.
Belarus borders the NATO member states of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The warning comes after Minsk diverted a Ryanair flight travelling from Athens to Vilnius a few weeks ago in order to detain a dissident journalist, Raman Pratasevich, and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, who were on board.
The EU condemned Belarusian action against civil plane and the detention of Pratasevich. In a declaration on behalf of the EU on the forced diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 to Minsk on 23 May 2021, the High Representative called for the immediate release of Raman Pratasevich. This was followed by a European Council statement, in which the EU leaders called for targeted individual and economic sanctions as well as to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by these. On 4 June 2021, the European Council introduced a ban on the overflight of EU airspace and on access to EU airports by Belarusian carriers of all kinds.
There is no evidence of any Western governments being involved in any way in the protests in Belarus. Large-scale protests began in Minsk on August 9, 2020, against the results of the presidential election, and then in other cities.
See earlier similar disinformation cases alleging that the West destabilises Belarus to destroy Russian civilisation, that American 'Deep State' will continue a hybrid war against Russia through Joe Biden, that Belarus is a military range for the upcoming US’s interference into Russian affairs, that the West is behind the protests in Belarus, and that the US wants to convert Belarus into a zone of instability and make it an anti-Russian puppet.