DISINFO: Pratasevich fought in Donbass, was responsible for foreign funding of the bataillon Azov
SUMMARY
Immediately after the arrest of the former editor-in-chief of the Nexta network of Telegram channels (recognised as extremist in Belarus) Raman Pratasevich, information appeared that in 2014-2015 he fought in the Donbass in the neo-Nazi Azov battalion (banned in Russia). He had connections with Ukrainian nationalists, and, in the winter of 2014, he even came to Kiev to support his ideological brothers and took part in the clashes on the Maidan.
Some sources asserted that acquaintances from the “right movement” also called him to Azov. In the battalion, he allegedly underwent special training in firing firearms, hand-to-hand combat, sabotage and subversive work and assault operations.
Pratasevich graduated from command courses and became deputy company commander for communications. He was demobilised from Azov as a lieutenant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. His call sign was Kim. In addition to communication and information issues, he was also responsible for receiving funding for the battalion from Poland, the Baltic States and the United States.
However, until recently, nobody provided any confirmation of this information. On Tuesday, two pieces of evidence of his participation in the conflict in Donbass appeared at once. First, blogger and politician Anatoly Shariy published a photo of the Azov magazine cover, in which a man with a weapon in the form of a unit, very similar to Raman Pratasevich, poses.
I also managed to find an old interview with the father of the detained blogger, in which he literally says the following: "Things were started on my son back in 2014, when he was on the territory of Donbass and fought on the side of Ukraine."
But he shyly kept silent about this, saying that he worked in the ATO zone as a journalist. Looks like he felt something bad behind him. That may emerge now, within the framework of cooperation between Russian and Belarusian special services.
RESPONSE
Recurrent disinformation aiming to discredit the Belarusian dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich.
Raman Pratasevich is a co-founder of the opposition Nexta channel on Telegram, which played an important role in providing information and broadcasting huge opposition protests against the illegitimate Belarusian president Lukashenko in 2020.
There is no substantial evidence to suggest that Mr. Pratasevich ever participated in the military activity of the Azov paramilitary battalion. Pratasevich himself said in an interview with a Russian journalist in 2020 that he had been in the war zone in Eastern Ukraine as a free-lance journalist. He was also in Maidan. He said that he did not throw stones or take part in clashes, but he was hit by the then riot police (the Berkut).
No evidence is given that Pratasevich "underwent special training in firing firearms, hand-to-hand combat, sabotage and subversive work and assault operations" or was "responsible for receiving funding for the battalion from Poland, the Baltic States and the United States". This disinformation claim is related to a broader disinformation narrative on the so called power of Nazis in Ukraine. See related examples here.
The representative of the Azov battalion, Vlaislav Sobolevsky, said to Current time TV that the military uniform was provided to Pratasevich and to other foreign journalists, for example, to the Lithuanian Delfi's journalists, to ensure their security. Sobolevsky denied that Pratasevich ever participated in military activity.
See further investigation by an independent outlet Meduza.
Raman Pratasevich was detained in Minsk airport when flying from Athens to Vilnius. On Sunday, May 23, 2021, the Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania was forced to turn back before crossing the Lithuanian border and land in the Belarusian capital. The pretext for landing in Minsk was a false report about the bomb on board. At the moment when the plane changed course, it was closer to Vilnius airport than to Minsk. The plane was forced by a Belarusian military aircraft to land in Minsk. Raman Pratasevich was detained during a repeated security check of passengers.
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 Mr. 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.
See more disinformation cases on Raman Pratasevich.