Narratives of Belarusian state TV channels, October-December 2021 

Narratives of Belarusian state TV channels, October-December 2021
Фото: iSANS

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  1. News releases from television channel Belarus 1
  2. News releases from television channel ONT
  3. News releases from television channel STV

News releases from television channel Belarus 1

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the main topics of reporting on socio-political topics and their statements in news releases from the television program Glavny efir (Main Air) included the following:

External attacks on Belarus and extremist activities

  • A real hybrid war has been unleashed against Belarus. Television presenter: «Alcohol-fueled parties and shooting are heard every now and then at the Belarusian borders. But those living on the same floor must somehow get by.»
  • A NATO military contingent is being built up on the Belarusian border. Correspondent: «The amassing of refugees on the Polish border is a good reason to justify the unhealthy intelligence activity of NATO in the region. And this is only in the context of the broad offensive agenda of the West.»
  • People in Belarus are seeking to provoke a civil conflict. Television presenter: «Pro-Western forces seem to have finally gone down the path of radicalism, turning towards outright terror. The marginal layer has managed to cross the red line.»
  • The West is planning a coup in Belarus, the new date for which is set for the time of constitutional reform.
  • The Rabochy Rukh (Labor Movement) spy network was working with the FBI, planning sabotage and terrorist attacks.

The collapse of the West

  • The EU is at a critical juncture. Television presenter: «The EU is bursting at the seams and the patience of Brussels is wearing thin. There has never been such an intensity of outbursts and scandals in a democratic, civilized Europe.»
  • Lukashenko: «I am certain, look, within a year or two that at America’s suggestion they will want to break apart the European Union. The Americans do not need partners who could become their equal.»
  • Food stores in the EU are shrinking and food has become scarce. Television presenter: «It is clear why the EU is looking at the fertile Belarusian lands like it is.»
  • Xenophobia in Lithuania. Television presenter: «Today, in fact, the Lithuanian government continues what was outlined back in the years of the pro-fascist regime.»
  • The West is plunging into energy and environmental problems. Television presenter: «Europe is drowning not only in internal contradictions, but also in floods that have already become the norm. Cities destroyed, hundreds dead, and more than a thousand missing. And this is just the beginning, scientists say.»
  • The punishment of citizens in Western countries is excessively cruel. Television presenter: «The arrests of teachers in Australia, people beaten in Italy, France, Slovenia, and Britain – this is the new reality that they are trying to silence in the 21st century.»

An aggressive Poland

  • Poland wants to put pressure on Belarus and Russia through the migrant crisis. Television presenter: «Duda and Morawiecki are seriously considering the possibility of occupying part of Belarus.»
  • Poland started the migration crisis to play a role in big geopolitics, to negotiate with the EU on the removal of fines, and to maintain people’s support. Latvian commentator Normunds Grostins: «This crisis is beneficial for the ruling in Poland internally, because it allows the society to be consolidated in a certain way.»  Television presenter: «The Polish ruling regime is whipping up hysteria, demanding hundreds of millions of dollars in border security and forming a striking fist in the east while playing with the U.S.»
  • Poland and Lithuania are vying exclusively for handouts from the strong states of the collective West. Television presenter: «They are ready to fulfill any whim of their owner.»
  • Poles destroyed the countries from which refugees are now fleeing. Television presenter: «It was the hands of the Polish military that destroyed their homes, killed their relatives, and destroyed the future of today’s refugees.»
  • Poland is pursuing a totalitarian state policy comparable to Nazi Germany or North Korea. Mateusz Piskorski: «In Poland there is no longer a justice system and there is no longer a real democratic system of standards of the Polish political system based on European Union values. Essentially, only authoritarianism.»

Migration crisis

  • The West is to blame for the flow of migrants because it unleashed war in these countries. Television presenter: «Big political promises have turned to dust. And those who are looking for a new home, after the old one was wiped off the face of the earth by NATO bombs… These people have become second-class people as far as the West is concerned.»

Polish and European security forces are beating migrants half to death and leaving them to die in the forest. Presenter: «Migrants continue to be harassed with dogs, intimidated with military weapons, and pushed back into Belarusian territory with batons. In Poland, this process has even been legalized at the state level.» Television presenter: «The Polish soldier left for Belarus because he did not want to follow the criminal orders of his leadership.»

  • Migrants and their displacement are the work of the European mafia, not Belarus. Television presenter: «The EU agreed with the President of Belarus, who said that there is a real mafia structure in the EU for the transit of refugees.»

Discrediting Belarusian political opponents and the protest movement in Belarus

  • The «Lithuanian hanger-on» Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is already a source of irritation in Lithuania, as she is costing them a lot of money.
  • The fugitive opposition are criminals. They pulled together those who would carry out terrorist attacks in Belarus and those who are ready to kill. Correspondent: «It was you, the fugitives, who pushed people to buy weapons, create weapons caches, and gather gangs. It was you who called for terror.»
  • «Fugitives» line up for salaries at the European Parliament, where hundreds of millions of dollars are laundered.
  • Protest movements of students in Belarus have been coordinated systematically for a long time. Television presenter: «When students filled with the required ideas took to the streets, they blocked the roads.»

Degradation of the U.S. and its aggressive actions

  • Pressure on Belarus comes primarily from the U.S. Lukashenko: «The underlying causes of pressure on Belarus are connected specifically with the United States of America.»
  • A racial divide is being cultivated in the U.S. There is a shortage of goods in supermarkets, rising unemployment and record inflation, and a significant increase in the number of murders in the country.
  • The storming of the Capitol was organized by the U.S. authorities as a provocation; Biden orchestrated the appearance of a Russian invasion of Ukraine to boost his ratings.
  • In interviews with Lukashenko, CNN used censorship and propaganda. Television presenter: «BT journalists learned propaganda through the teaching of CNN journalists.»

Preparations for the constitutional referendum 

  • In the draft of the new Constitution there are no conditions to develop a parliamentary republic, as such a system does not allow for decision-making. Member of the Constitutional Commission Svetlana Lyubetskaya: «Strong presidential power is the solution to issues where a clear vision and a clear understanding of results are needed. More importantly, it must be provided.»
  • Foreign «well-wishers» could use the referendum to change the Constitution and destabilize the country.

Puppetry and the decline of Ukraine

  • There is no state in Ukraine – no law, no power. Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ilya Kiva: «Anarchy, chaos, lawlessness, war, disease, hatred – this is what today personifies a country that was once flourishing and successful.»
  • The energy tragedy in Ukraine means that Ukrainians may be left without heat. Television presenter: «Zelensky has long been unconcerned about the quality of life of his own people, and life in general. Just recently the armed forces of the ‘square’ attacked the east of the country. Five thousand people were left without water and electricity.»
  • In Ukraine, the rules are set not by the government, but by Washington and Brussels.
  • There has been a «Euro-deceit» in Ukraine, as Ukraine has no prospect of participating in European integration. Host: «Barren stores and cold radiators in kindergartens – perhaps these are the only achievements of the Ukrainian authorities after the Maidan. It was only through bitter experience that people realized that the revolution had only exacerbated the crisis.»

The coronavirus epidemic and vaccination

  • Covid riots in the West have witnessed police dispersing disgruntled people with water cannons and rubber bullets, with some dying as a result. Television presenter: «Europe, which stands up for freedom of all kinds and stripes, will not offer the same to its citizens.»
  • There are no problems with the coronavirus in Belarus. Vaccines and treatment, unlike in other countries of the world, are available to everyone. Dmitry Shevtsov, head of the Belarusian branch of the Red Cross: «The Belarusian experience has shown the best practice in the fight against Covid infection anywhere in the world.»
  • Europe cannot vaccinate half of its population and is trying to hide from the virus behind lockdowns. Healthcare systems are in serious disarray.
  • Latvia lacks hospital beds and ventilators and there is a serious epidemiological crisis in Estonia and Lithuania.
  • The difficult situation with the epidemic in Ukraine has led to queues at crematoriums.

Western sanctions

  • Despite Western sanctions, the demand for Belarusian products in Western countries is growing at a record pace. RuBaltic.ru publicist Aleksey Ilyashevich: «Sanctions against Belarus have had the opposite effect: instead of reducing the volume of foreign trade, Lithuania, on the contrary, is stocking up on Belarusian goods.»
  • Western countries are suffering losses from sanctions, especially Poland and the Baltic countries. Ordinary citizens are suffering from sanctions. Latvian commentator Normunds Grostins: «The interests of local people and businesses are often sacrificed to geopolitical considerations.» Television presenter: «The latest round of sanctions did not hit Minsk but choked instead the Lithuanian economy.»

 Friendly relations between Belarus and Russia

  • There is anti-Russian hysteria regarding a Russian attack on Ukraine. Belarus will stand up for Russia if Ukraine attacks.
  • Every Belarusian’s pocket feels the positive effects of integration with Russia.
  • The Union State does not pose a threat to the sovereignty and independence of Belarus. State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev: «Union programs do not concern any political issue at all. There is simply no threat to the sovereignty or independence of Belarus, or any other political institutions within the framework of the Belarusian governance system.»

 

News releases from television channel ONT

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the main topics of reporting on socio-political issues and their statements in the episodes of the television program Contours included the following:

External attacks on Belarus

  • NATO is preparing for combat operations and military equipment is being built up in Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Propagandist Marat Markov: «To start a war, one does not need to maintain an army of millions. It is enough to have the infrastructure prepared … and to have suitable vassals who will be ready to turn your territory and population into hostages of military operations. America is far away… and Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, etc. will fight.»
  • The West is putting pressure on Belarus to contain Russia. Television presenter: «The American plan of an ‘anaconda’s grip’ to contain first the USSR and then Russia is in force. Its essence is not in military confrontation, but in the creation of hostile, preferably non-independent states around Russia… Belarus seems to be one of the coils – the closest in the tough snake belt, which is why the West seeks chaos and a revolution here.» Correspondent: «A policy of world chaos is underway with the West is trying to draw Belarus into its funnel. The goal is to deprive Minsk of sovereignty and independence, thereby replenishing its team of vassals while hobbling Moscow.»
  • The puppeteers of the events of 2020 will not be far behind Belarus. As soon as money and new strategies appear, they will repeat their attempts.
  • The behavior of the EU towards Belarus is systemic schizophrenia. Accusations of waging a hybrid war are a complete absurdity.

An aggressive West towards Russia

  • The West is preparing for war with Russia. This is proven by the events on the Polish border.
  • The U.S. is conducting an operation to involve Russia in a major conflict in Europe.
  • The UK is sponsoring regime change in Russia: «It emerged this week that the UK government paid dozens of companies and foundations to create conditions for regime change in Russia and to undermine Russian influence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.»

Friendly relations between Belarus and Russia

  • The West fears Belarus and Russia’s integration and the strengthening of the Union State. Russian politician Gennady Zyuganov: «The West does not need a strong competitor in the East.»
  • Integration with Russia is a gift for Belarus. Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko: «Everyone will benefit from this – foremost, Belarusian manufacturers… [Russia] is a huge consumer of our goods and services. Therefore, we need to do our best to ensure that access to this enormous market, which was given to us from above, by our neighbor, is managed without problems.»
  • Integration with Russia cancels out the role of the dollar in Belarus. Sergei Glazyev, Minister for Integration of the Eurasian Economic Commission: «The dollar has become a toxic currency for Russia and Belarus. It is dangerous to keep money in dollars as it is an unreliable currency.»
  • Putin and Lukashenko are more than friends. Lukashenko on Putin: «I am more than a friend to him.»
  • Russia is a reliable partner. Article by former German politician Gerhard Schröder: «For more than 50 years, Russia or the former Soviet Union has been a reliable supplier – this also dates back to the Cold War. Russia is not the enemy in this cold gas war.»

Migration crisis

  • The European Union has not fulfilled any of its obligations on refugees.
  • Polish border guards, like the SS, staged a public execution at the border. They poured toxic chemical weapons used for malarial mosquitoes on the refugees. Pro-Kremlin commentator Yakov Kedmi: «The parallels are absolutely clear and are those for which both Poland and Germany have been famous. It is true that back then the Jews became victims when they were expelled from Germany to Poland and the Polish border guards shot at them and drove them back to Germany.»
  • The migration crisis happened because of the West’s military actions in the Middle East. Lukashenko: «[Assad, Hussein, Gaddafi, and Castro] are people who, by virtue of their position, understood very well what was happening. They were leaders of their states. These bastards just killed them. They took out the leaders, and then went to those countries… They wanted to rebuild the Near and Middle East… They not only split them apart, they destroyed their statehood. Where should people go? There was no state left.»
  • Poland and Lithuania are creating a provocation at the border, contrary to EU policy. Propagandist Yuri Shevtsov: «Sooner or later, Duda will call. Poland will be forced to build a new political approach… Their methods of solving the crisis have proven unacceptable to Brussels and Berlin. This means that their whole strategy of inflating their worth through confrontation in the east, even a ridiculous one as with these unfortunate Kurds, is not working very well.»

An aggressive Poland

  • The Polish authorities turn the refugee story into a full-scale preparation for war. Television presenter: «While thousands of people are barely surviving on the border, Warsaw is cynically and cold-bloodedly trying to take political advantage of this situation… And now it is trying to dictate terms to Brussels and threaten Belarus. How else can the pulling of military equipment to our borders be understood? Of course, there is a risk of provocation.»
  • Poland, dependent on the U.S., tried to destabilize Belarus. Russian politician Gennady Zyuganov: «The Polish gentry and Lithuanian lords rushed to stabilize things for you and dragged this skirt [Svetlana Tikhanovskaya] into the role of leader to mock the people.»

Western sanctions

  • New impending Western sanctions violate international law. Minsk will appeal to international courts.
  • The fifth package of sanctions is being introduced because of the fiasco involving previous packages, as the Belarusian economy continues to develop and supply goods to Europe.
  • Belarus, following the experience of Russia, will respond to sanctions with a food embargo of Western products, which will hit Western countries but improve the Belarusian economy. Television presenter: «Russian farmers received a unique opportunity for development and quickly replaced niches in the market. The same opportunity has now come to Belarusian manufacturers.»

The decline of Ukraine and its aggressive actions

  • Ukraine is arranging provocations on the border with Belarus.
  • Zelensky is a corrupt official who cannot conduct politics on his own.
  • There are problems with electricity in Ukraine, the country is in collapse. Correspondent: «Democracy, if it is pursued thoughtlessly, through someone’s orders, will lead to chaos and ruin, first in the mind and then in the economy.»
  • Unlike Belarus, Ukraine has serious problems with oxygen and has seen an increase in the number of sick and dead from the coronavirus.

The collapse of the West

  • Problems with gas in the European Union. Correspondent: «The price of gas could turn into a real social explosion for EU countries and set off a chain of political crises.»
  • The European Union is considering Poland’s exit from the EU, waiting for a «political exit.» Correspondent: «In the EU, they look at Warsaw as a small toxic black dot on an apple that could spoil the whole fruit of Europe.»
  • In Lithuania and Latvia there is a shortage of electricity.

Coronavirus epidemic in Belarus and in the West

  • In the West, people are forced to be vaccinated, but in Belarus things are different. Propagandist Igor Tur: «We offered people something that the pseudo-democratic West did not offer to its own people – a choice. It would be possible to everyone get vaccinated at the snap of a finger, however Lukashenko did not do this.»
  • WHO supports Belarus’s strategy in fighting the epidemic.

News releases from television channel STV

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the main topics of reporting on socio-political topics and their statements made during episodes of the television program Nedelya (The Week) included the following:

External attacks on Belarus and extremist activities

  • NATO is advancing troops to the Belarusian borders, trying to encircle Belarus psychologically. Lukashenko: «[NATO] is looking for any excuse to move its troops closer to the borders of the Union State.»
  • Refugees and European tanks on the border with Belarus are a military threat to Belarus and an attempt by NATO to get closer to Russia.
  • The Anglo-Saxons are impeding dialogue between Minsk and Berlin. Polish right-wing radical commentator Mateusz Piskorski: «Foremost, the Anglo-Saxons benefit by not having dialogue take place between Minsk and Berlin, and among major players. They are trying to create zones of destabilization and tension along the borders of the CSTO. This is a return of the UK to the idea of ​​the great geopolitical game that was played by the British back in the 19th century.»
  • 327 Telegram channels and chats in Belarus were recognized as extremist.

The collapse of the West

  • Great Britain and Poland want to destroy the European Union. Lukashenko: «The British and Poles, having taken the EU from both sides in pincer formation with the hands of the Americans, want, if not to destroy the EU, then to at least take it down a notch.»
  • The collective West will be mired in conflicts. Commentator Viktor Saevich: «The so-called West ceases to be collective… We will see the most violent conflicts between different groups of Western countries… Britain will find itself in the most difficult situation… Europe will certainly not help it. Europe will be in a constant state of conflict.»
  • Europe will have a tough winter due to its foolish sanctions policy.
  • The mechanism of failure of American democracy has been launched.

The decline of Ukraine and its aggressive actions

  • There is a food crisis in Ukraine. She will ask for electricity from Belarus. Ukrainian commentator Dmitry Miroshnichenko: «After the collapse of the USSR, when Ukraine seceded, Kravchuk received a pretty successful country. Now it is a non-state, essentially a colony, and a pro-American regime. Millions of people are fleeing from there. There are no jobs, no salaries, miserly pensions and nationalism has been planted, which has now passed into the stage of Nazism.»
  • Ukraine is hostile to Belarus only because Western benefits can be earned through an aggressive policy towards Belarus and Russia.

Migration crisis

  • Refugees are a distraction to pull the troops of Western countries towards the borders of the CSTO and the Union State.
  • Polish and Lithuanian border guards are mistreating migrants.
  • The migration crisis was created by the West. Vladimir Putin: «The causes [of the crisis] were created by Western countries themselves, including European countries. They are political, military and economic… Belarus has nothing to do with it.»
  • The Polish authorities have created a migration crisis to prove to their Western sponsors that Poland is a bulwark against illegal migration and to raise their rating at home. Ukrainian commentator Mikhail Chaplyga: «The Poles are escalating the situation on the border to squeeze money out of the European Union. The same is happening in Ukraine.»
  • Neither the United Nations Refugee Organizations nor the WHO are helping to address refugee issues. Belarus is solving this problem alone.

Western sanctions

  • The first to suffer from sanctions are Europe, not Belarus. Television presenter: «Restrictions are directed against us, but they suffer from them in Europe.»
  • Sanctions against Belarus are a crime against the Ukrainian people.
  • Despite sanctions, Belarus’s trade with the U.S. and EU is at a record high.

An aggressive Poland  

  • Poland participated in the destruction of Iraq and now does not want to help Iraqi refugees. «Maria Zakharova reminded the Poles of the events in Iraq, when more than two thousand Polish soldiers invaded this sovereign state to establish democracy. Why not accept at least as many ‘grateful’ Iraqis today?»
  • Poland wants to occupy Belarus, working to worsen the conflict with Belarus. Lukashenko: «I am afraid that this confrontation at the border over migrants will lead to a critical phase. There is ground for provocation and any provocation could be committed… We never intended to attack Poland… But they are dreaming of it.»
  • Poland is an outcast. It has no friends or reliable partners. Polish right-wing activist Mateusz Piskorski: «Poland is starting to be perceived as a nation of outcasts within the European Union because it is incapable of negotiating with either its eastern and western neighbors. Polish foreign policy has led to isolation, and it has no friends and reliable partners.»

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Материал доступен на русском языке: Сюжетные линии белорусских государственных телеканалов, октябрь-декабрь 2021

10.02.2022