Belsat TV is an “undesirable organization” in Russia. Polish MFA responds

According to a statement issued by the Russian prosecutor's office on Friday, the aim of Belsat is to “discredit the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian authorities, create a negative image of Russia and criticize the integration processes within the Union State of Russia and Belarus.”

As noted, Belsat was supposed to publish materials about “Russia's unjustified aggression against Ukraine, the occupation of the territory of this country”, as well as statements that Crimea is not part of Russiaand the latter illegally announced the incorporation into its territory of the regions which it occupies as a result of aggression.

The communiqué also stated that Belsat actively cooperates with and distributes materials from organizations listed as “foreign agents” and other “undesirable organizations.” The vast majority of these are independent media, organizations, and experts that the Kremlin does not like.

The list of “undesirable organizations” has existed in Russia since 2015. It includes about 180 (as of July) NGOs, associations and media. Participation in the activities of such an organization in Russia is punishable by a fine or – in the case of repeated “participation” – criminal liability. This also applies, as independent media remind, to activities conducted outside Russia.

In June, Belsat (along with the Russian-language Nowa Polsza) was included on a list of Western media banned from broadcasting in Russia. The list included 81 media outlets, including leading European newspapers, magazines and portals, such as the German weekly Der Spiegel, the Spanish daily El Mundo, the French daily Le Monde and the Politico.eu portal, as well as the French news agency AFP. The Western media were accused of “systematically spreading unreliable information about the course of the special war operation.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry said at the time that the media outlets had been banned from broadcasting in response to the decision adopted by the EU Council on 17 May to ban “any broadcasting activity” for several Russian state media outlets.

In January 2024, the Kremlin designated the Russian-language editorial office of Belsat – Wot Tak as a “foreign agent.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the matter on Friday on Platform X, saying that “Poland condemns the unjustified decision of the Russian authorities” to recognize TV Belsat as an “undesirable organization” in Russia.

“This is yet another example of Moscow's actions blatantly attacking free media and independent journalism,” the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed.

Belsat TV, which is organizationally part of TVP, was created as a media project aimed at Belarusians. Until 2020, when the country held rigged presidential elections, it was one of the leading sources of alternative information to the content spread by state propaganda. Belsat publishes its content in Belarusian, Russian, English, Ukrainian, and Polish.

IN Belarus Belsat was labeled an “extremist organization.” Since then, there have been cases in which people have been sentenced to prison, for example, for giving interviews to the station. The Belarusian authorities call this “cooperation with an extremist organization.”