Antifake / Factcheck

22 лістапада 2023

Top-5 Fake News. Only Elite have Access to Hunting in West & Youth are in Power in Belarus

Further: Latvia seizes cars from Belarusians, “The Black Lady Of Niasvizh” by Karatkevich & Baltic leaders' ancestors who worked for the Nazis. Top-5 Fake News spotted by the Weekly Top Fake team.

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Fake#1 “The Black Lady Of Niasvizh” is written by Karatkevich

Fake appearance date: 10.11.2023

Uladzimir Karatkevich's novel “The Ear of Rye Under Thy Sickle” was excluded from the school curriculum in Belarus. The book tells about Kastus Kalinousky, leader of the 1863 uprising against the Russian Empire.

Trying to defend the novel, TV presenter Denis Dudinsky mistakenly mentioned Bogdan Khmelnitsky on the air of the program ‘Ordinary Morning’ on November 10.

“This is an epochal literary work. <…> A whole century, a whole historical layer of the formation of Belarus, the formation of Belarusianness. A large number of historical figures, and Kalinovsky... And… Khmelnytsky... There is a huge amount of everything…” he said.

On the same day, Denis Dudinsky was ridiculed for that statement by Grigory Azarenok in his program ‘Azarenok. Napryamuyu’:

“Khmelnytsky, OMG. This is genius. He sits in horn-rimmed glasses, looking all fashionable and intelligent. And Khmelnytsky. OMG. Not a single critter among you has read “The Ear of Rye Under Thy Sickle”. <…> Among you not a single critter has read. But you do stand up for defense. And he shakes a book, looking so stylish. Khmelnytsky. <…> And they will tell us here about the cattle, about the fact that we are uneducated here. You are freaks.”

Afterward, Azarenok explained why this novel has no place in the school curriculum.

“In 10th grade, I read as expected. It is an early novel by Karatkevich. The early novel. Well, it is a sort of, honestly, not “The Black Lady Of Niasvizh”, not his further works,” Azarenok said.

“The Black Lady Of Niasvizh” is a play by Aliaxei Dudarau.

Fake#2 Latvia seizes cars of Belarusians

Fake appearance date: 11.11.2023

Latvia has introduced a legislative ban on cars with Russian license plates, so the owner must take the car out of the country or register it within three months. Otherwise, the car will be seized and sent to Ukraine. The law came into force on November 15.

A few days before, on November 11, an employee of the propaganda media outlet ‘SB. Belarus Today’ Maxim Osipov stated in the program ‘Ploshchadka’ on the TV channel ‘Belarus 1’ that cars would be seized from Belarusians as well.

“More than five thousand Belarusian citizens working in Latvia may lose their cars. Belarusian license plates are not held in high esteem there. If the car is not taken abroad by the end of the year or not registered in Latvia, it will be confiscated. According to the Baltnews agency, both options are not acceptable for most fugitives,” Maxim Osipov said.

Initially, the Latvian Ministry of Justice proposed seizing cars not only with Russian license plates but with Belarusian ones as well. But this idea was finally abandoned two and a half weeks before Osipov said about it.

“In discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an agreement was reached that we do not apply these restrictions to Belarusian cars. It seems to us that the national sanctions regulation simply does not give us such a right,” Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia Lauma Paeglkalna stated on October 25.

Fake#3 The ancestors of the Baltic countries' leaders collaborated with the Nazis

Fake appearance date: 11.11.2023

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was pranked by Russian comedians Lexus and Vovan. And then, on November 11, commenting on their prank on the air of the program ‘Editors Club’of TV channel Belarus 1, Lexus claimed that Kallas' ancestors had worked for the Nazis.

The top Belarusian propagandist and host Ivan Eismont, added that Lithuanian leaders had also collaborated with them. Here is what they, in particular, said:

“The grandfather, of course, was a polizei. All the others were also overexposed…”

“What, a polizei?” Ivan Eismont claimed.

“What would you think?!” Lexus exclaimed.

“Just like in Lithuania... The situation is the same in Lithuania. One president was an assistant to the Nazi, the “Butcher of Minsk”, who hanged people in Minsk, and the other president, Nausėda, was that assistant’s assistant,” Ivan Eismont said.

The grandfather of Kaja Kallas was Udo Callas. He was a saxophonist in the variety orchestra of the National Television and Radio of the Estonian SSR.

The Russian pranker probably meant Kaya's father's grandfather. Last year, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, accused him of collaborating with the Nazis.

“And now Achtung! The very dad Siim Kallas, whose grandfather Eduard Alver was the head of the paramilitary nationalist group the Estonian Defence League.

In 1939—1940b it was the Defense League that became the stronghold of pro-fascist moods in Estonia,” she published in her Telegram channel on May 17, 2022.

Eduard Alver headed the Defense League in 1919 when Estonia had been fighting with Russia for independence. In 1921, he’d been the head of the Estonian secret police for several months, after he was engaged in lawyering until his death.

Alver died on August 15, 1939, before the start of World War II.

As for the Lithuanian president, who, according to Ivan Eismont, was an assistant to the “Minsk butcher”, we are talking about Valdas Adamkus. In 2021, the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus accused the former head of Lithuania of collaborating with the Lithuanian volunteer battalion led by Antanas Impulevičius-Impulenas, which carried out punitive operations in Minsk during the war.

Until mid-summer 1944, Valdas Adamkus lived and studied in Kaunas. In August 1944, at the age of 17, he joined the Fatherland Defense Forces and served as a translator.

The unit was formed to protect Samogitia from the advancing Red Army and has nothing to do with either the Impulevičius battalion or its criminal activities.

The current Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda was born in 1964.

Fake#4 Youth are in power in Belarus

Fake appearance date: 10.11.2023

In the West, old people rule, but in Belarus, power was created for the youth, Nikita Rachilovsky claimed on November 10. He is the chairman of the Youth Parliament at the National Assembly of Belarus and this is what he, in particular, said on the air of the propaganda program ‘Azarenok. Napryamuyu’.

“There is absolutely nothing created there for young people. In our country, a youth council has been created under the Central Election Commission, a youth parliament under the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, and around the country, there are many other advisory councils where young people can realize themselves. <…> Who's there? Name at least one young politician in the USA or Europe.”

There are young heads of state in the West. For example, Sanna Marin headed the Finnish government at 34. Sebastian Kurz became Chancellor of Austria at age 31.

The youngest government official in Belarus was Roman Golovchenko, who became prime minister at the age of 46.

Nowadays, there are two young deputies in the Belarusian parliament. They are Maria Vasilevich, 26, and Sergei Klishevich, 30. However, it is less than 2% of the deputy corps.

In Western European countries parliaments, this data is usually higher. So, in Norway — 13%, Germany — almost 8%, and France — nearly 6%. The average age of Belarusian parliamentarians in the House of Representatives is 50.5 years. Belarus is among the top 10 “oldest” parliaments in Europe in terms of average age.

Fake#5 Only the elite have access to hunting in the West

Fake appearance date: 13.11.2023

The leading propagandist of the Lukashenko regime, political scientist Piotr Petrovsky, said that it is very difficult to become a hunter in Europe.

“In many Western countries, in Germany, in France, especially in Great Britain, the hunters' society is an elitist, closed-off lodge. If you want to get in there, you have to pay huge sums. You must be relative to someone,” he claimed on the air of the program ‘Azarenok. Napryamuyu’ on November 13.

About 90 thousand participants in hunting have registered in Belarus. Previously, there were 100 thousand. For the right to hunt, you must annually pay a state fee of 37 BYN. 

There are 38 thousand active hunters in Belarus. It's about 1 participant per 247 inhabitants.

The website jagdverband.de published statistics on the number of hunters to population in European countries for 2020.

These data in Europe are mostly higher than in Belarus. In Germany, there is 1 participant per 216 inhabitants, in Great Britain — per 165, in France — per 51.