In a statement released on Friday, the Russian prosecutor’s office attempted to justify the decision by claiming that the goal of Belsat was to “discredit the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian authorities,” and to “create a negative image of Russia, and criticize the integration processes within the Union State of Russia and Belarus.”
Among other things, Belsat was criticized for broadcasting content concerning “Russia’s unjustified aggression against Ukraine”, while also calling the occupation of Crimea an “illegal annexation”.
Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has slammed the ruling. Writing on X, the ministry said: “Poland condemns the unjustified decision of the Russian authorities to designate Belsat TV as an ‘undesirable organization’ in Russia.”
The ministry added: “This is yet another example of Moscow's assault on free media and independent journalism.”
Since its inception, Belsat has been viewed as one of the few alternatives to propaganda beamed out by the regime of Belarusian strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Russia’s list of “undesirable” organizations was first published in 2015 and currently includes around 180 NGOs and media outlets, among them Bellingcat and The Moscow Times.
In June, Belsat was one of 81 European media outlets to be banned from broadcasting in Russia, alongside platforms such as the German weekly Der Spiegel, the Spanish daily El Mundo, French news agency AFP, and the Politico portal.
Belsat publishes content in the Belarusian language, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and English.
