Fake#1 Foreign media praised Lukashenko for a “fabulous press conference”

Fake date 8.07.2023 

On July 6, Alexander Lukashenko held a conference with media representatives. Two days later, a state-run STV channel reported that this press conference caused great resonance in foreign media.

“There was a fabulous press conference. The journalists described the big conversation of our president with representatives of the world media in such a bright and bold way. [...] 

A significant conversation was held at the initiative of foreign journalists. The international press widely covered the president's interview. Here are excerpts. According to the laws of the genre, both agencies, British Reuters and the American Associated Press did not go into the author's journalism and managed with quotes. On its pages, Sky News admits: "We have seen  a long and varied press conference."

The BBC notes: "The Belarusian leader clearly has the stamina." Reuters wrote: “Lukashenko rules with an iron fist,” the STV claimed in a July 8 news report.

At the same time, there were screenshots of these media quotes translated into Russian on the screen.

Actually, foreign media covered this meeting in a different way than the STV claims.

The media outlet Sky News published this article titled “Inside his grand palace, Lukashenko speaks out on Putin, Prigozhin and the Wagner mutiny”. And it does not include a phrase describing the press conference as "long and varied."

In addition to citing Lukashenko's statements, the author wrote only a couple of words about this event:

«Mr Lukashenko was chatty and accommodating. He likes these kinds of events. A chance to set out his stall to the international press and soak in the adulation from his own.” 

We have googled three other videos covering this press conference. There were only Lukashenko’s quotes (translated into English) but no commentary on the event. 

Also, the BBC reported about Lukashenko’s press conference  differently than the STV claims:

“Only a few weeks ago there'd been feverish speculation about his health. But the Belarusian leader clearly has stamina. The "conversation" lasts nearly four hours.” 

Reuters indeed wrote that Lukashenka rules with an iron fist. However, not in a positive way: 

“Alexander Lukashenko dismissed on Thursday a description that he was "Europe's last dictator", saying that he was not a dictator but that if he were, he would certainly not be the last. 

Lukashenko, 68, has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994 and in an interview with Reuters in 2012 had relished his notoriety as Europe’s last dictator,” Reuters reported.

Fake#2 Mogilev region is the most Belarusian-speaking region in Belarus

Fake date 10.07.2023

On July 10, 1994, Belarus holds the second round of the first presidential elections, and as a result, Alexander Lukashenko wins.

Reflecting on this event 29 years ago and all following elections, political scientist Vadim Gigin told which region of the country is the most Belarusian-speaking. 

“Some people think that Western Belarus is more Belarusian-speaking. No, it turns out that the Mogilev region is more Belarusian-speaking,” he claimed on the air of  Radio Minsk on June 10. 

Actually, it is not true. According to The 2019 Belarus Population and Housing Census, out of 9.5 million, almost 2.45 million people say that the Belarusian language is the language of communication at home.

Most of these people live in the Grodno region, 38% of the population. Next comes the Minsk region (37%), and then the capital Minsk goes (34%). 

Mogilev region is in 4th place. Every fourth resident considers himself Belarusian-speaking there.

Brest and Gomel regions follow. Belarusian-speaking 16% and 14% respectively.

Fake#3 Zelensky felt lonely at the NATO summit

Fake date 13.07.2023

On July 11 and 12, Lithuania hosted the NATO summit, which was also attended by Vladimir Zelensky.

After the summit had ended, Aleksey Avdonin, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, claimed that the president of Ukraine was alone there, since no one communicated with him.

«Recall, how many memes and comments there were about this photo of Zelensky, where he stood alone in such a militarized uniform, and everyone else in tailcoats, in beautiful suits stood and no one talked to him.

In fact, this is a bright symbol of the collective West countries' attitude towards Ukraine,” Avdonin said on the air of Alfa Radio on July 13.

This is about the photo taken by Reuters before dinner on the first day of the NATO summit. 

The pic is not fake, but Zelensky's loneliness at this event is greatly exaggerated. This is evidenced by other photos and videos from the summit.

On the same evening, Zelensky spoke with the first lady of France Brigitte Macron, had a conversation with acting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and hugged the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni. 

The fact that the president of Ukraine was not deprived of attention is also evidenced by the video of the British Channel 4 News.

Fake#4 Zelensky anathematized in Bulgaria

Fake date 11.07.2023

Tensions flare up in Kyiv around the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, as the authorities want to seal its buildings, and the parishioners protest.

In this regard, Aleksei Avdonin, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, said that Vladimir Zelensky was anathematized in Bulgaria. 

“Noteworthy, on July 7 in Sofia, Zelensky faced a harsh reaction to the situation around the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. An Orthodox priest ran up to the motorcade of the president of Ukraine, called Zelensky a Nazi, and managed to anathematize him,” Avdonin claimed on July 11 on the air of the Polit STAND UP program on the ONT TV channel. 

During the visit of the Ukrainian president to Bulgaria, a man in a cassock has really run out to his motorcade and, waving a cross, shouted out the words “anathema” and “Zelensky”.

However, this man was not a priest. His name is Atanas Stefanov. In his TikTok, where Stefanov posted a video of this incident, he indicates himself as a subdeacon, that is an assistant to the bishop in worship.

In the church hierarchy, a subdeacon does not belong to the clergy. Only deacons, priests, and bishops are considered as clergy. Therefore, Atanas Stefanov could not anathematize anyone.

In addition, Stefanov's TikTok shows his sympathy with Russia. In March, during the parliamentary election campaign, he dropped the flag of Ukraine from the balcony of the mayor's office.

Atanas Stefanov was also a candidate for parliament from the Mir party. 

In the last elections in Bulgaria, the party won 0.15% of the vote. In 2019, Stefanov came to a press conference with Vladimir Putin, introduced himself as a journalist, and presented Putin with an icon.

Fake#5 By supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions, the United States violates international law

Fake date 11.07.2023

Ukraine has been provided with cluster munitions by the US. Covering this news, the Belarusian state-run TV claims that Washington is thereby violating an international convention. 

“Sleepy Joe gave the green light to evacuate cluster munitions to Ukraine. International conventions have not been signed when the subject is thousands of shells from the arsenal of the US Department of Defense, albeit for 800 million,” said host Daria Tarasova on the air of the TV "Belarus 1" on July 9.

In fact, what Tarasova said is a distortion. Firstly, cluster munitions will be provided not for $ 800 million —  it’s the total of the entire aid package, which includes air defense ammunition, armored vehicles, and anti-tank weapons. Cluster munitions are only part of this assistance.

Secondly, the US has not signed the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits all use, production, transfer and stockpiling. Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus are not on the list of countries participating in the convention as well. 

The columnist for the media outlet “SB. Belarus Today” Andrei Mukovozchik spoke about cluster munitions as well.

“In fact, cluster munitions appeared when the US needed to kill a large number of North Vietnamese. 

They tried to do it with defoliants, burning the jungle. They tried it with naphthenic acid, they tried it with carpet bombing. And then they invented cluster munitions,” Mukovozchik said on July 11 on the air of SB TV.

It is not true. The Cluster Munitions Coalition maintains a timeline of cluster bomb use. 

The first use of cluster bombs can be traced back to World War II. In 1943 both Soviet forces use air-dropped cluster munitions against German armor and German forces use SD-1 and SD-2 butterfly bombs against artillery on the Kursk salient. Then German aircraft drop more than 1,000 SD-2 butterfly bombs on the port of Grimsby.

Then, in the 1960—1970s, US forces make extensive use of cluster munitions in bombing campaigns in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

According to the Conventions on cluster munitions website, the first significant use of cluster weapons was during the Second World War, when German planes dropped SD-2 ‘Butterfly Bombs’ on the British port of Grimsby. Then — during the Vietnam War.