DISINFO: Nazi-like Ukrainian government, along with Poland and the Baltic states, threatens Belarus
SUMMARY
Until recently, Ukrainian neo-Nazism was believed to be a threat to Russia and Russians only. However, Ukrainian Nazism goes beyond Russophobia; it started targeting Belarus. Together with Poland and the Baltic states, Ukraine has turned into the springboard of special operations aimed at the destabilisation of the political and economic situation in Belarus.
Moreover, Kyiv began competing with Warsaw and Vilnius over the status of the major promoter of the so called democratic changes in Belarus. The Nazi-like Zelenskyy's government does not care about the well-being of Belarus, it only wants to bring the country to the West. It is not accidental that Kyiv undertook a serious military escalation in Donbas at the time when a coup attempt in Belarus was taking place.
Hence, Belarus finds itself under the fire from its neighbouring countries and the collective West. Due to the fact that Ukraine has no chances for success in direct confrontation with Russia, only destabilising posts along the whole perimeter of Russian border might work.
RESPONSE
The disinformation message is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the aggressive West and NATO, the Western attempts to instigate colour revolutions in the EU neighbourhood, and Nazi/fascist Ukraine. It also aims to blame the West and Ukraine for the recent escalation in Donbas, exempting Russia of any responsibility for its military buildup in the Ukrainian border.
There is no evidence that Western countries staged massive unprecedented protests in Belarus following the 9 August 2020 presidential elections. In fact, the Belarusian people revolted against election fraud and police violence towards thousands of rally participants. The Baltic states, Poland, and other NATO states, as well as Ukraine, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belarus, and did not intervene in its domestic affairs. Following the deployment of additional units of the Belarusian army on the country's border with Poland and Lithuania in late August 2020, the Polish Defence Ministry denied Belarusian authorities' allegations and reiterated in its official position that Poland has no territorial claims on any country.
Moscow-backed separatists have been mounting tensions in Donbas over the recent weeks under the pretext that Ukrainian troops are planning an offensive. Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed on 26 March 2021, which is the largest daily death toll for government troops since the fragile truce that took effect July 2020.
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. Far-right groups enjoyed a very limited presence during the Euromaidan itself and had poor results in the 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections. In the 2019 election, far-right candidates scored very low (1-2%) and fell short of the 5% minimum guaranteeing entry into parliament.
See other examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives in Belarus, such as claims that Belarus mobilised its air force fearing an imminent NATO invasion, that Poland and Lithuania are destabilising Belarus to turn it into a Russophobic limitrophe, that the West needs Belarus as a springboard to attack Russia.