DISINFO: Real Ukrainian patriots fought for DPR/LPR, real Belarusian patriots consider Belarus and Russia as one
SUMMARY
The enemy imposes a breakaway of post-Soviet countries from Russia presenting this as patriotism and protection of national interests. Real Ukrainian patriots are located in Donbas and fought in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Those who shout “Glory to Ukraine” are not not patriots but destroyers. They seemingly want to turn Ukraine into a concentration camp, to bring hatred among people and wage war. They are the forces who are used by external actors to destroy Ukraine and to turn it into the territory of a military clash of civilisations. This is also true for Belarus. The real Belarusian patriot is the one who understands that Belarus and Russia are one body, and that together with Russia, Belarus has a future. The one who opposes the Union with Russia is not a patriot. He is either a foolish man or the enemy of the Belarusian state and people.
RESPONSE
This message is consistent with recurring propagandistic narratives about war in Ukraine and Western attempts to disrupt Belarusian-Russian relations. It presents a close union with Russia as the only positive way of development for Belarus and gives a completely distorted view on the war in Ukraine, presenting Russia-backed armed formations which violated Ukraine's territorial integrity as Ukrainian patriots. The war in eastern Ukraine is an act of aggression by the Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the Belarusian opposition is tasked by the West to disrupt Belarusian-Russian integration, that the West targets the Union State between Belarus and Russia, and putting forward a ridiculous false dilemma, claiming that the only possible scenario for Ukraine and Belarus to prevent their descent into Nazism through the politicisation of national clothes is to become a Russian western federal area.