The Belarusian opposition is organizing a genocide ordered by the West 

A regional network of propagandistic websites has continued to develop the conspiracy theory that the Belarusian opposition, social activists, independent mass media, and bloggers are intentionally spreading the COVID-19 epidemic on instructions from the cruel West. In our previous issue, we wrote that U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo allegedly handed over coronavirus vials to Belarusian activists on the orders of Soros. A month earlier, the network also claimed that the opposition had plans to infect millions of people.

So, what exactly, according to the data of the pseudo-regional website network, were the Belarusian activists and bloggers doing in April, either for Western money or on their own initiative?

First, they were attacking the Ministry of Health on the web and by doing so, disrupting its work:

“The Belarusian special services monitored the signals where the reports came from. It turns out that this is not only the work of ardent oppositionists, but also of paid trolls from other (mostly European) countries – Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, and the United States. This kind of flash mob is naturally highly encouraged. Every post has its own price and is measured in US dollars – the more you post – the more you earn.”

Secondly, oppositionist-Satanists were intimidating and attacking Christians at the time of Easter celebrations:

“Nationalists and thugs unleashed veritable propaganda, accompanied by persecution of believers, both on the Internet and in reality. Satanists approached people on the street and went door-to-door, urging them not to go to church, but to go to the square on Easter Eve to «burn tires» and demand the president’s resignation. According to unofficial sources, some Orthodox believers were even intimidated, being told that if you go to church then one day you’d get yours after the ‘bloody regime’.”

The persecution of Christians, as the propaganda network claims, pursues a large-scale aim to discredit the Belarusian Orthodox Church and promote the autocephalous church.

“Why is it Orthodoxy that has been caught in the middle? It happens because the idea of the creation of the autocephalous church in Belarus has not been prevented by anyone, and the opposition sees it as the best time now to promote its ideas “that were paid for by the West”.”

Thirdly, the opposition was engaged in cyber-fraud activity and had been stealing money from the population. True, it was no longer for Western money, but because “the West had isolated itself from them and did not yet give money”. And money is needed for a number of reasons.

“The question is why do they need money? There are three answers here. First, for their own enrichment. Second, for the forthcoming presidential campaign. Third, to destabilize the situation in the country at the cost of Ukrainian nationalists,” a pseudo-regional website for Hrodna explained.

As is stated, there were three methods of fraud. The oppositionists phoned the trusting Belarusians and swindled the data for their bank cards under the pretext of paying single payments in connection with the coronavirus. They also created fake lookalike websites to sell coronavirus tests to get bank requisitions. Another way is to solicit money to purchase aid for medical workers.

Fourthly, the pro-Western opposition was devising plans to disrupt the military parade at Victory Day to glorify Nazism instead. “They might even have prepared swastikas, Nazi banners, and even caps of Motherland betrayers.” The stakes for holding the parade were thus abnormally high:

“If the authorities officially cancel the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Victory Day, it will, in fact, become a victory for the opposition. This will not only be a victory over the incumbent authority or the President, no, it will be a victory of the modern Belarusian fascists over the Soviet soldier, over the Soviet past, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers who fought in the war and laid down their own lives.”

The attacks on the Ministry of Health and church, cyber fraud, and the attempts to disrupt the parade are probably the smallest sins of the activists, since even more severe criminal offences, including plans to organize genocide, are imputed to them. Let’s go further.

Fifthly, the Belarusian opposition allegedly intended to help NATO in an attack on Belarus that failed only because of the coronavirus.

“Had it not been for the pandemic, our villages and cities might now be burning in enemy fire. It is this surprise, apparently, that the NATO members were preparing for the 75th anniversary of the celebration of the great Victory Day… Perhaps it is worth scouring the ranks of «zmahary” and «svyadomity» [a mocking reference to the oppositionists], who helped NATO members to dig the trenches at our borders.”

Sixthly, the opposition allegedly continued its criminal plans to organize a genocide of the Belarusian people:

“The incident with the coronavirus opened a wide field for illegal actions for them, but all these actions are directed only at the genocide of the Belarusian people — somehow to influence their emotions, to motivate them to go to the Square, to catch the disease and die”.

As can be seen, the bad West appears in the publications of the pseudo-regional network in many different forms, just like the multifaceted and mysterious Shiva— both in the role of the US, NATO and George Soros. Or even in the role of the International Monetary Fund.

It is argued, for example, that the IMF could provide financial support to Belarus due to the epidemic implications, but in exchange, it would insist on cutting social programs and holding elections at its own discretion:

“At this pace, the IMF will soon deal with issues of sexual minorities and protect the rights of gays and lesbians”.

It also gives advice about the need to approach Russia instead of cooperation with the cunning West in all its faces:

“It is much easier to agree with the older brother represented by Russia within the framework of the Union State. Here, there are no such requirements, no one will insist on price regulation, domestic policy, gender inequality or sexual minorities”.

The pseudo-regional network does not just acknowledge “facts”, but also offers “solutions”.

“It is necessary to block Telegram-channels, Youtube, Nasha Niva, Solidarity, Belarusian partisans, Euroradio, Liberty Radio and other resources. It is necessary to introduce a real emergency martial law, but only for the oppositionists”, the pseudo-regional website for Mahilou states categorically.

Its counterpart for Brest region believes that instead of martial law for the enemies, it is enough to impose a curfew:

“It is necessary to take advantage of the gaps and introduce a special law for the opposition, their political parties, youth movements and information resources. A kind of «curfew» for oppositionists, that would not let them rock the boat, intimidate people and increase the panic”.

In general, pseudo-regional websites continued to spread hate speech against various social and political groups in Belarus.

Indeed, the oppositionists will sell their own mother for a can of stew, and will bite the hand off anyone who goes against them… The opposition surrounds itself precisely by the margins, among which are boozers, drug addicts, hooligans, anarchists, nationalists, and thugs. There are no normal people,” the pseudo-Mahilou site said.

The bad and aggressive West, which is planning to hurt Belarus – and Russia – in every possible way, is one of the key pro-Kremlin narratives that is being spread among the Belarusian audience. It runs through most of Belarus-related propaganda materials, from day to day, like a red thread.

For example, in one of the April publications of the Politnavigator website with the revealing name “The National Liberation Movement (NLM) Revealed A Plan Of The West In Relation To Belarus”, a completely disappointing forecast is made as a result of the western shenanigans — “War awaits us in Belarus”.

One of the narrative’s embodiments about the hostile West is annexation plans by Poland, which supposedly dreams of getting a piece of Belarus, or even sending its troops to Minsk.

“Belarusians must not forget that the revanchist mood is strong in Polish society. It concerns the return of Belarusian lands together with its population to Poland”, Teleskop states in its April publication.

A recent interviewee of Ukraina.ru website is even more explicit in this regard:

“For Poland, Belarus is only a part of the lost eastern lands that must be returned to the Polish state… the Polish political establishment would give its eye teeth to see Polish troops entering Minsk”.

Here, a classic discrediting trick is used, a link with Nazi Germany:

“The Belarusians themselves are not needed by the Poles in any capacity. On this issue, the views of the Polish nationalists coincide with those of Hitler. They are quite similar — Nazis and Polish nationalism”.

The publication of Imholclub, for example, generally predicts the resurgence of Nazism and racism in all Western countries, with Russia and China acting as a counterweight:

“In the West they will be increasingly tolerant toward historical revisionism, revision of the outcomes of the Second World War and, finally, revival of Nazism and racism”.

However, the chances for Poland’s survival after devastating coronavirus implications are illusory, as other pro-Kremlin websites assert:

“Poland may have to, at least for economic reasons, become a part of Greater Germany while preserving the external attributes of a sovereign state”.

The only serious hope for Poland must be Russia. It was Russia that had earlier rushed into the heart of the epidemic in Italy, while Brussels was a passive spectator:

“Italy is not really living at all, but just surviving now. And the European Union did not raise a finger to help the Italians”.

An intriguing interpretation of the April fires in the Chernobyl zone of Ukraine is presented by Berestje-News, which belongs to a pseudo-regional propaganda network.

“It is impossible to believe that Ukraine could not cope with the problem during two weeks of emergency; perhaps they did not even try because they received an “order from above” to let the fire spread to the borders of Belarus and Russia. Thus, while the whole world is struggling with the artificially created biological weapon of the coronavirus, the Ukrainian authorities are testing a chemical weapon,” the website speculates.

The fire was artificially organized by the Ukrainian Security Service, the article continues, and declares the Belarusian opposition “the first traitors”.

“All the oppositionists must be sent to the “expulsion zone” — they who were treacherously remaining silent and continuously supporting Ukrainian nationalists. Let them put out fires, let them show how they defend the Belarusian people with shovels against the Ukrainian ecological war,” Berestje-News suggests as a solution to the problem.

Along with Poland and Ukraine, neighbouring Lithuania and Latvia are the constant targets of pro-Kremlin websites. In previous issues, we wrote how all of Belarus’s neighbours (except Russia!) had consistently been denounced as Nazi, how NATO had escaped and abandoned the Baltic countries, and how the US was ousting the Baltic populations to prepare an attack on Belarus. This line continued in full in April.

Thus, Imhoclub, in its article “Septic Wound of Europe: Plague Lithuania”, described the disastrous consequences of the epidemic:

“The situation with the spread of coronavirus in Lithuania has become irreversible. The negligence of the leadership of the country, as well as the connivance of top officials, led to the fact that the doctors who were supposed to treat the patients turned out to be in quarantine themselves”.

According to the same website, Latvia suffered an unenviable fate because of the authorities’ disregard:

“There are three ways to fight coronavirus. 1. the Chinese way suggests the toughest quarantine and injection of big sums of money. 2. the Swedish one is to do nothing. 3. the Latvian way is to proclaim the Chinese way, realize the Swedish, and f*** the difference”.

One of Sputnik Belarus’ interlocutors is confident that Lithuania wants to ‘squeeze’ international assistance from Belarus to fight against the coronavirus. Another one is observing the activation of neo-Nazi ideas and the increase of Russian-speaking residents’ suppression in Latvia. All these take place in the chaos of the coronavirus epidemic.

The theme of our March monitoring “EU as a pest house, Russia is doing great” contained numerous examples of articles about the catastrophic effects of the epidemic on the West in contrast to its successful management in Russia and China. In March, Sputnik Belarus, among other things, broadcast the opinion that “for Russians, coronavirus is like trying to scare them with cockroaches, as we have already been through so much”.

This opinion was also circulated in April. Thus, the KSORS website, whose domain belongs to the Russian Embassy, published the poem “Virus the Monster”, which states, inter alia:

“The Pechenegs (us) tormented,
But even Polovtsy relented.
No one could defeat us there,
The hardest path is in the air…
Belarus complies with –
#I’mNotAfraidOfVirus,
I’m working like before.
And I’m only hoping for…
For myself and the best physicians,
For the guys with labor missions.”

In the preface to this ‘poem’, it is stated that “our ancestors, Aryan Russians, were also creators of great civilizations of antiquity”. Therefore, the coronavirus epidemic is nothing.

The same site, referring to partner media outlet, made a collection of allegations about how everyone was deceived, because the total mortality from coronavirus supposedly “remains within the frames of serious seasonal epidemics of SARS and influenza”.

In fact, as Imhoclub’s publication states, the World Health Organization and the media hype the threat of coronavirus unnecessarily, causing fear, panic, hysteria, and global crisis. It is said that more people die of flu and abortions, and therefore there is no need for the measures that have been taken “as if a third world war is happening”.

Pro-Kremlin websites invariably promote false dilemmas about the political development of Belarus. In a variety of modifications, it is asserted (and we have already written about it) that either Belarus will become a part of Russia / will go into deep integration with it and thus ensure its all-round successful development, or it becomes a plundered colony of the West / will suffer Polonization and the destruction of identity / will lose part of its territory / will degrade in all spheres. These false dilemmas have been fully revealed in the April publications of a number of sites.

The name of one of the articles of Ukraina.ru in this respect speaks for itself: “Uniting with Russia is better than gathering Polish sir’s strawberries, Belarusian expert says”.

“As I have stated before, Belarus should be in alliance with Russia… If Belarus waits for another couple of years in a proud independent status, it will then have to beg Russia to become its autonomous district without any conditions,” another website broadcast a commentator’s opinion.

The website goes on, stating that if Belarus is reoriented towards the West, the consequences will be dire, including civil war and genocide:

“This would be a transition through default, blatant privatization that one has feared to allow for 25 years, destruction of businesses, entire sectors of the economy, curtailment of all social programs, including medical care and education, and even perhaps a civil war, implying genocide of the Russian-speaking population”.

Teleskop promotes a similar view: either strengthening the sovereignty of Belarus within the Union State with Russia, or turning Belarus into Poland’s backyard, with all the consequences:

The so-called ‘Belarusization intelligentsia’, ‘Belarusization’ parties, ‘Belarusization’ civil society and a part of the Belarusian bureaucracy are impregnated with primitive ideas about independence and sovereignty. In reality, all of them hide the desires of the Polish gentry to transform Belarus into the Eastern Kresy (regions) of Poland. Objectively, they all play the role of the “fifth column” of the West in our countries.”

The KSORS website publication develops a contrast to integration with Russia and Poland, while making irrelevant historic references:

“The union of Belarus with Poland has always been reactionary and anti-national, because it aimed at the denationalization of the Belarusian people, i.e., its elimination. The Union of Belarus and Russia has always been progressive and national, as it has contributed to the preservation of the mental characteristics of the Belarusian people.”

Therefore, the article concludes, in a union with Russia Belarusians will inevitably flourish, while possible membership in the European Union will lead to the loss of independence and the disappearance of the Belarusian people.

Notwithstanding the ongoing rivalry between the West and Russia, the world’s future looks optimistic, because history favors the latter, according to the April publications of a number of pro-Kremlin Internet sites.

As Teleskop writes,

“today’s West, being a part of the global community, is at the same time a real threat to peace. The West is waging a continuous centuries-old war against Russia”

Fortunately, RuBaltic predicts that the upcoming US-China conflict will play along with Russia and weaken the West and China as well:

“The American-Chinese ‘clinch’ permanently destroys the ‘Chimerica’ project – a global peace project based on the union of the USA and China. ‘Chimerica’ was the worst that could happen to Russia, because only this scenario made the dreams of Russophobes about its final defeat and destruction come true”.

The erosion of US greatness is accompanied by the erosion of NATO’s authority. As a Sonar2050 article states,

“Russia did not take advantage of the alliance’s weakening to attack a defenseless European Union. Instead it supported the EU and the US with medical equipment and other humanitarian aid. This fact seems particularly glaring. If so, who and from whom does NATO really defend? And why does anyone need it?”

Strengthening of Russia will be better for all, because Moscow, unlike the absurd hierarchy of relationships promoted by the US, builds a mutually respectful model of relations with other countries, Sputnik Belarus and the RIA News Agency explain:

“It is no coincidence that some states prefer to suffer more serious losses, but only not to accept help from inconvenient and unfavorable forces. In this way they maintain a rigid hierarchy under US hegemony, which suggests that each country is obliged to take a clearly assigned place and not dare to even think about changing it”.

It follows from these publications that the West’s decline and Chimerica’s disruption will undermine US’s destructive plans towards Belarus. Thus, Teleskop, with reference to its colleagues, claims that Trump would try to get Belarus away from Russia following the Kyiv script. Purportedly, a kind of headquarters to coordinate the actions of anti-Russian forces within the state apparatus of Belarus, opposition and pro-Western structures is being created “under the roof of US Embassy in Minsk”. Its purpose, as the article asserts, is the ‘creation of an anti-Russian regime similar to Ukraine’.