“The U.S., together with Russia and Belarus – against Europe”. In April, Belarusian propaganda enthusiastically responded to the trade war Donald Trump effectively declared on the EU. There was also extensive coverage of the first official document legalizing “patriotic education” of citizens in Belarus, starting from kindergarten.
Other trends this month included plans to bring 150,000 workers from Pakistan to Belarus, intensified anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, and narratives of Poland and Lithuania being Belarus’s “main enemies” in the West. More details – in ISANS’s monthly overview.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
- In April, the Fundamentals of the Ideology of the Belarusian State were adopted. The document formulated a “system of ideas, views and concepts” reflecting national and historical traditions, interests and values. Among other things, the “Fundamentals” enshrined the “sovereignty of Belarus’s internal and foreign policy.” According to propagandists, “it is about the need for citizens to have clear and understandable knowledge of the fundamentals of their country’s life.” According to experts, the document contains nothing fundamentally new that had not been previously published in the propaganda press.
- On April 2, Minsk celebrated the Day of Unity of Russia and Belarus. Propagandists use official holidays as an opportunity to praise Aliaksandr Lukashenka and the alliance with Russia.
- Lukashenka never fails to gently remind everyone that Belarus is a state independent of Russia. His formula for coexistence with Russia is: “One Fatherland – two states.”
- In April, state-controlled media had to respond to an unexpected challenge: to calm public fears over the prospect of 150,000 Pakistani workers arriving in the country at Lukashenka’s invitation.
- Propaganda continues to view the democratic movement and free civil society as the main threat to the regime’s stability.
- In April, the new U.S. president’s administration unleashed a trade war against the whole world by raising import duties, continuing to appease Putin and pressuring Ukraine. Trump’s actions have weakened the Western world rather than strengthening it, and have only benefited dictators like Putin and Lukashenka. Belarusian pro-Kremlin propagandists expressed their enthusiastic support for the new trends in U.S. foreign policy. They were particularly pleased with the emerging rift between the U.S. and European countries.
- State media are promoting a new anti-European narrative: “The U.S. together with Russia (and Belarus) against Europe.”
- According to propaganda, Belarus’s closest neighbors, Poland and Lithuania, remain the main detractors from the West.
- The propaganda approved of Trump’s self-confident and harsh steps to end the war. At the same time, in April, the U.S. administration continued to exert pressure mainly on the victim of aggression, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia. The U.S. suddenly transformed from a staunch supporter of Ukraine into a player on Putin’s side.
- “Skeptics” among propagandists urged not to trust Trump because “after pressuring Kyiv, he will pressure Moscow.”
- A new anti-Ukrainian narrative: Ukraine belongs to the “Slavic brotherhood” alongside Belarus and Russia and must be returned to it.
- Kremlin propaganda accuses the West of unleashing a war against Russia, thereby shifting the blame for military aggression onto it.
- Some propagandists urge not to trust Trump and the West under any circumstances and to focus on rapprochement with trusted allies – Russia and other autocracies such as China, North Korea, and Iran.
You can read or download the whole monitoring of propaganda in RB for April 2025 at this link.
Материал доступен на русском языке: «Россия и США – союзники в борьбе против фашизма?» Основные нарративы беларусской пропаганды в апреле 2025
