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Of course, President Vladimir Putin recently mentioned: Russia may eventually have to initiate a military intervention in Belarus. But, as his spokesman later said, “at the moment, as we can see, the situation is under control.”
Putin is trying to give the impression that he is just a concerned neighbor during a crisis that erupted during national unrest after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko declared victory in a rigged election in August. Russia, Putin wants the world to believe it, is holding back.
Such an impression is misleading. In reality, Russia is carrying out a secret military intervention in Belarus, first and foremost in the media. Belarusian state television has replaced Belarusian journalists with correspondents from the Kremlin-funded RT television network, Lukashenko confirmed in an interview.
“You understand how important you were to us during this difficult time,” he told an RT correspondent. – And everything you have technically proven, your IT professionals, journalists, correspondents and everyone else … and your manager. Really we appreciate “.
George Barroso of the Washington-based Institute for Military Studies issued an early warning about Russia’s plans to take over Belarusian state television.
On August 20, Barroso wrote about the creation of new videos showing the United States and NATO as instigators of unrest in Belarus, as well as cleverly designed propaganda videos released through the Belarusian Interior Ministry.
State television has worked diligently to “humanize Belarusian officials,” he said in an interview, while describing the protesters “as a threat to families and the lives of security personnel.”
All this is radically different from the real events in Belarus. The state has arrested thousands of protesters, all without exception, after the highly controversial August elections. A large proportion of detainees say they have been tortured in prison.
Russia’s aid to Lukashenko has not ended there. Barroso and his colleague Mason Clark recorded three flights of government airliners from Moscow to Minsk.
The first aircraft of this type, they claim, belonged to the FST, Russia’s Federal Security Service.
There is no direct evidence that FST officers flew those flights. But, according to Barroso, there is circumstantial evidence that the FST is advising Lukashenko on how to dispel the protests.
For example, after that first August 18. During the flight, the Belarusian security forces ended a policy of mass arrests that had caused unrest and embarked on an arrest strategy for targeted opposition leaders and organizers.
In an interview with reporters, US Under Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said there was little doubt that Russia “had some influence” in Belarus and that publicly available flight tracking data showed that “an elite aircraft had flown from Minsk to the FST intelligence service more than a few times. “
All this does not promise anything good for the future of Belarus. If Lukashenko manages to retain power, he will have to withdraw any policies or positions that seek greater independence from Moscow.
How will all this react to your opposition to the economic and political union between Belarus and Russia? Will he continue with the tactics of his anti-Russian intentions that he used during the presidential campaign when the Belarusian security services arrested 33 Russian mercenaries?
In a broader context, Putin’s attack on Belarus only proves once again that Russia views the media structure as a battlefield for its own hybrid war. Sometimes war requires real soldiers, as in 2014 in Ukraine.
Other times, the main objective is to sow chaos and mistrust in democracy. In this case of Belarus, Russia appears to be trying to suppress the democratic uprising without firing a single shot.
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