EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PROPAGANDA NARRATIVES:
- BELARUS AND THE “UNION STATE”
— The upcoming presidential elections in 2025 are gradually becoming the main factor influencing the Belarusian propaganda agenda. The Lukashenka regime is seeking to intensify propaganda and ideological work before the elections. These goals are served especially through the reshuffling of “ideological” positions in the government and the Presidential Administration.
— Belarusian propaganda continues to work determinedly to sacralize the image of Lukashenka as the “father of the nation” to whom there is no alternative in the elections while creating and supporting a “cult of personality.”
— On the eve of the elections, the “Belarusian world was created and popularized as a universal unifying “national idea.”
— “Creeping re-Stalinization” and the exploitation of nostalgia for the Soviet past continue through Belarusian state channels.
- BELARUS’ DEMOCRATIC FORCES
— Supporters of Belarus’ democratic transition remain one of the primary targets of Lukashenka’s propaganda. Controlled state media are seeking any opportunity to discredit protest participants and political emigrants.
— In April–June, propaganda often threatened political emigrants with confiscation of property. New threats were also made against the relatives of those still in Belarus.
— In Belarus’ new military doctrine, adopted in May 2024, opponents of the current government are included among the “internal military dangers.”
- UKRAINE
— During the period under review, a slight softening of anti-Ukrainian rhetoric was noted in Belarusian propaganda media along with a decrease in references to Ukrainian topics in general. Obviously, this is a result of Lukashenka’s direct appeal to state media journalists demanding less criticism of Ukraine. Another factor is the failure of the Russian army at the front in Ukraine and, in general, the failure of Putin’s objectives for the war.
— There are more and more calls for peaceful negotiations and statements being made that Ukraine is not a hostile country, but one that is close or even “native” to Belarusians. Lukashenka’s own “peaceful” statements show his irritation with the Kremlin’s ongoing attempts to drag Belarus into the war.
— In April–June, propaganda made a concerted effort to promote the myth of the “illegitimacy” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
— Propaganda outlets negatively covered the preparations for and holding of the peace conference on Ukraine, held in Switzerland on June 15-16 (peace summit in Ukraine). This was due to the fact that Russia and Belarus were not invited to participate. The irritation of the Lukashenka regime was intensified by the fact that the West determinedly does not want to see Belarus as a negotiating platform.
— Belarusian propaganda stubbornly continues to ignore Russian missile attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities and the killing of civilians, but at the same time provides detailed coverage of retaliatory Ukrainian strikes on military targets and the energy infrastructure of Russia to weaken its ability to continue the war.
— In May and June, state-controlled media outlets actively disseminated fake news that “Ukraine is allegedly preparing to attack Belarus.”
- THE “COLLECTIVE WEST”
— The “political part” of Belarus’ new military doctrine, adopted in May, consists of classic anti-Western propaganda myths and clichés. The entire concept of military development and defense of Belarus is grounded in false statements. The actions of the countries of the “collective West” are defined in the new doctrine as “the main external military danger.”
— Propaganda continues to use threats of nuclear weapons to intimidate the West. At the same time, propagandists insist that they only want peace and call on Western countries to return to “business as usual.”
— In their comments on the elections to the European Parliament (in June), state media expressed joy at the expansion of the presence of right-wing and conservative forces in the EP.
— A joint report of Russia and Belarus’ Ministries of Foreign Affairs “On violations of human rights in certain countries” criticizes the situation with civil liberties and rights in the West. This is not the first attempt by authoritarian regimes to suppress the human rights agenda of democratic countries.
— The main foreign policy targets for attacks by Belarusian propaganda remain Poland and the Baltic countries, primarily Lithuania. Propagandists are trying to shift responsibility for the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border to Poland, the European Union, and the West as a whole.
— Controlled state media continue to sharply criticize Western sanctions imposed on the Lukashenka regime. At the same time, they argue that the sanctions have not only not harmed, but have contributed to the development of the Belarusian economy.
- MOLDOVA, GEORGIA, AND ARMENIA
— Since the end of 2023, Moldova has been chosen as a new foreign policy target of pro-Kremlin propaganda. Through political support for the “separatist” regions – Transnistria and Gagauzia – Moscow hopes to weaken Moldova. Belarusian propagandists are also taking part in this campaign.
— Lukashenka’s media warmly welcomed the adoption of a law “on external funding” in Georgia, reminiscent of the Russian law on “foreign agents.” Propagandists tried to portray the mass protests in Tbilisi as “Western-inspired” attempts to organize a “color revolution.”
— In the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Belarus has openly supported Azerbaijan. After Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that neither he nor any other official representative of this country would visit Belarus while the current “president” was in power, a media attack against Pashinyan and Armenia was launched in Belarus’ pro-Kremlin media.
- ISRAEL
— The Lukashenka regime’s media adopt a hostile stance towards Israel.
— At the same time, propaganda speaks in laudatory terms about the main foreign policy threat to Israel – Iran. Regarding the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the response was as follows: “A true friend of Belarus” has passed away.
INTRODUCTION
The upcoming presidential elections in Belarus in 2025 are gradually becoming the main factor influencing the content and direction of Lukashenka’s propaganda. One of the Belarusian ruler’s main concerns was cracking down on the media so that “things would go without a hitch.” His biggest nightmare is a repeat of the 2020 protests that nearly toppled him from power, so his dictatorial regime is careful not to allow any autonomy.
The same need has driven the new reshuffling of “ideological” positions in the government and Presidential Administration and demands to strengthen ideological work. Lukashenka’s words in the title of this review are taken from this.
The emergence of the monstrous concept of the “Belarusian world” is another attempt to respond to the regime’s demand for ideology. The “Belarusian world” in the minds of ideologists in the administration is a tortuous attempt to create something united and unifying, but in reality, it turns into the same kind of bogus and lifeless project as everything that the dictatorship squeezes out, from Stalin to Lukashenka. The result is something completely horrific: “Where the BELAZ dump truck, the MTZ tractor, and the Belkommunmash electric bus drive and an agricultural town is built, where the friendship of peoples and religions blossoms – from Venezuela and Zimbabwe to the North Pole – there lies the Belarusian world,” Minsk propagandist Pyotr Petrovsky is convinced.
As before, propaganda sees two main targets for attack – Western countries (primarily its closest neighbors, Poland and Lithuania) and representatives of the democratic forces of Belarus. Here we see a significant difference from the Kremlin’s propaganda: in the Russian national media, the place of honor of the “main enemy” has long belonged to Ukraine.
During the period under review (April-June), the media controlled by Lukashenka showed a different picture, with the flow of anti-Ukrainian statements decreasing significantly.
This report is not an exhaustive, detailed overview of all the meanings, storylines, and nuances of Belarusian propaganda during the period under review. Every day, tons of flattery and praise for the dictator Lukashenka continues to pour out from television screens and from the pages of Belarus’ state press, accompanied by streams of hatred and dirt thrown on the West, Belarusian defenders of democracy, and Ukraine. iSANS monitoring does not aim to cover the whole of statements and assertions made by propagandists in detail during over the review period. The purpose of this study is to analyze and show the most striking examples of the main lines of propaganda in the second quarter of 2024.
Note: the quotations below retain their original spelling, punctuation, and style (in translation).
The entire report can be read or downloaded by following this link.
The report can be read in Russian language.
