Session on Belarus’ information policy

Proposals to improve information policy in the country were submitted for consideration at a government meeting hosted by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 31 May.

Addressing the participants of the meeting, the President emphasized the need to discuss the further strategy of counteracting modern threats to national security

“This is not the first time we are addressing the topic as it continues to be relevant. It does not only continue to be so, but the pressure on us in this regard is increasing. We have to respond accordingly,” the Belarusian leader said. “You know very well that the challenges that we are facing today are not a new story. We have been building our state for almost a third of a century, and we have constantly been subjected to ideological, informational, military and psychological threats. We are actually under this pressure from the collective West - Washington and its allies. The intentions are known: to destabilize society, change the constitutional order, bring the right people to power, obedient to the West. The level of technology used to achieve these goals is very high.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed the need to work out counteraction mechanisms and countermeasures in the information space. “The tasks we are facing are difficult but solvable,” the head of state added.

The head of state noted that the collective West is trying to influence Belarus by means of psychological warfare using techniques that influence people’s minds.

“Looking at Ukraine, we understand that the scenario that was not implemented on our soil is now unfolding there. When we ask ourselves what would have happened to us, we need to look at Ukraine. We are aware of the level of threats that actuated in the territory of the neighboring country,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

 “One has to understand that people who follow the news are not always able to separate truth from lies. When you are not an actual participant in the events and get a lot of information in the form of lies and fake news, it is really difficult to tell truth apart from lies. Politics in the West, in principle, has long turned into a reality show. People have got accustomed to this format of receiving information, so truth sometimes is not interesting. Shows are more interesting as they are beautifully staged,” the President said.

The head of state said that reality is sometimes dull and not as bright as lies and fakes. “This is the main problem here. As a result, even primitively fabricated stories are taken by people as truth. Any war, especially a hybrid war is a struggle for people's minds. We have to protect our people. The question is how. These are the issues we need to discuss,” the Belarusian leader said. “I support this idea. We should not be afraid of the word ‘propaganda’. We propagandize the best, we advocate the best. Previously, there were departments of propaganda from the Central Committee of the Communist Party down to district committees. They promoted our own way of life, all the best things as we understood them then."

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, these things still remain in place, primarily in the West. "They mock us by calling us 'propagandists'. Why do they mock us? To confuse us. Therefore, there is nothing wrong if we promote our way of life, our values and propagandize them. But we must also learn how to craft counter narratives against the propaganda that has been unleashed against us. We need to develop mechanisms of counteraction, countermeasures," the Belarusian leader emphasized.