#RAI ELYOUM FREE#
The EU, which stated that the elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair and repeatedly called on Belarusian authorities to stop the unacceptable violence against protesters, was accused of double standards. Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti chimed in, saying that the enemies of Lukashenka, namely Poland, wanted a bloody Maidan in Minsk (the article has since been viewed almost 100,000 times). Once the pro-Kremlin media settled on the delicate matter of the detention of Wagner mercenaries, the floodgates of pro-Kremlin disinformation opened wide: the protests in Belarus were a colour revolution and the evil West was behind it. “The detention of Russians in Belarus was a Ukrainian provocation”, multiple pro-Kremlin media outlets claimed, following questionable reporting by the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, which was swiftly debunked by independent Russian media.* This did not deter pro-Kremlin sources, which continued to blame Ukrainians and claim that Ukrainian secret services were controlled by the West and/or the CIA and were planning terror attacks in Belarus.
However, soon enough pro-Kremlin media found a way around this thorny issue by focusing on a more convenient culprit: Ukraine.
#RAI ELYOUM TV#
Commentators on Russian state-controlled TV carefully mused about a “ misunderstanding” and spoke about “ Belarusian radicals” allegedly trained in clandestine camps – ironically, only later to complain that this particular segment of disinformation was censored from Belarusian airwaves. The move presented a conundrum for pro-Kremlin media, which has supported the regime for years. A few weeks ahead of the election, Belarusian state media announced that 33 Russian citizens, allegedly members of the Wagner group, were detained on suspicions of having traveled to Belarus to “destabilise the situation during the election campaign.” However, even with this loyal network of websites and wide access to TV audiences, pro-Kremlin disinformers stumbled on Belarusian complexities. The network accused various European countries of trying to crush Belarusian statehood and claimed that Polish Catholics were seeking to incite riots in Belarus. It attacked Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Maria Kalesnikava, and Veranika Tsepkala who dared to challenge Lukashenko, claiming that they were tools of European feminists seeking to destroy Belarusian values and implying that arresting their supporters means defending Belarus. This network has been hard at work ahead of the presidential election. Pro-Kremlin disinformation has a strong foothold, relying on an extensive coordinated network of regional websites that exploits people’s trust in local news. The unprecedented unrest in Belarus is compounded by a complex disinformation landscape, with domestic and external sources active in the run-up and the aftermath the vote.īelarusian media is heavily controlled by the state and roughly half of the prime-time content on Belarusian TV is produced in Russia. Meanwhile, Belarusian state-controlled TV channels reported mere “disorders” (беспорядки) in the streets orchestrated by “foreign organisers,” along with reports about the start of the mushroom season. Authorities have responded with police violence, internet blackouts, and mass detentions of journalists and protesters. In recent days, thousands of people have been taking to the streets in Belarus to protest the results of presidential elections that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a landslide victory amid allegations of widespread vote-rigging.
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