Ongoing Russian and Belarusian disinformation narratives suggest that western governments are working to organize a coup to overthrow the Lukashenka regime. Such narratives are promoted by the regime and the Kremlin to justify the regime’s ongoing violent crackdown on activists and protestors.
On July 2, 2021, Alexander Lukashenka claimed to have uncovered foreign sponsored “terrorist units” that are being “coordinated” by western governments. The claim was further broadcast on the Belarusian regime’s state media YouTube channel.
Large-scale pro-democracy protests began in began in Minsk on August 9, 2020, in response to the outcome of a fraudulent presidential election. Thousands of Belarusians took to the streets for months, where they were met by riot police. Over 35,000 protestors have been detained, many of whom were beaten and tortured.
In June 2021, Russian blogger, Roman Pratasevich was removed from a Ryanair passenger aircraft and arrested, after the Belarusian government forced the airliner, travelling from Athens to Vilnius, to land in Minsk.
