Belarusian Ministry of Information accuses Russian media of insulting the Belarusian people
The Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus calls on Russian authorities to take measures against media outlets that are challenging the sovereignty of the Republic.
“An analysis of the information space revealed a recent increase in the emergence of information that is biased and, on occasion, blatantly destructive, towards Belarus, the authority of the country, and the Belarusian people, in a number of media and internet resources,” BelTA News quoted the Minister of Information, Lilia Ananich as saying.
Lilia Ananich listed a number of information resources whose publications, according to her, cast doubt on the sovereignty of Belarus, contain insulting remarks about the Belarusian people, its history, language, and culture. In addition, the activity of the Belarusian President, governmental authorities in different areas – policy, economy and culture is presented in a biased sense in these publications.
“At the same time, theories alleging Belarus is leaning towards the West, and the anti-Russian policies of the Belarusian authorities are constantly discussed,” Ananich noted. The Minister of Information reported that Belarusian officials have informed their Russian colleagues about these reports.
“We have not only informed them of these issues, but have requested they take comprehensive measures in response to these publications, including, those in accordance with Russian legislation. On the 1st of November 2016, we applied to the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service for Telecom Supervision and Information Technologies and Mass Communications [Roskomnadzor] regarding these publications,” the Minister of Information said.
As previously reported, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus has investigated criminal cases initiated under allegations of the incitement of racial, national or religious hatred or discord against three authors from the Russian media outlets of Regnum, Lenta.ru, and Eurasia Daily – Dmitry Alimkin, Yuri Pavlovets, and Sergey Shiptenko. The suspects have been detained and remanded to custody as a preventive measure.