DISINFO: The EU is trying to buy out Belarus
SUMMARY
The EU’s €3 billion economic support package will be frozen until Belarus begins a transition to democracy, meaning Lukashenko’s opponents are now trying to buy out Belarus outright after the coup and assassination attempts against Lukashenko failed.
RESPONSE
A mixture of recurring disinformation narratives centered on the unsubstantiated notion that the West is undermining the sovereignty of Belarus, in this case, through the EU’s comprehensive plan of economic support to a future democratic Belarus, revealed at the end of May 2021.
The claim that Western countries made an attempt on Lukashenko’s life as part of a coup is a recurring conspiracy theory proliferated by pro-Kremlin outlets to justify the suppression of democracy in Belarus and Kremlin’s own aggressive foreign policy. This conspiracy theory has been thoroughly debunked in a report by the Atlantic Council, according to which such narratives are proliferated by pro-Kremlin outlets in order to justify Belarus’ isolation from the West and promote the Union State of Russia and Belarus as the only viable option for Belarus.
The EU’s comprehensive plan of economic support package envisions that up to €3 billion in investments and loans will be activated once Belarus begins a transition to democracy. The money would be used to stabilize and grow the country’s economy, democratize its institutions, and lay the foundations for a sustainable and digital Belarus. This plan reflects the EU’s commitment to support the ongoing popular protests in favour of democracy in Belarus following the Presidential elections in August 2020, which were neither free nor fair.
Similar cases of disinformation in the database claim that the EU is offering a bribe to Belarus for "democratisation", that the West wants to destroy Belarusian economy and impoverish the country, that Poland plans to colonise Belarus, calling this process “European integration”, and that Tsikhanouskaya’s participation in an EU Council meeting is interference in Belarus’s affairs.