In Belarus they demand to allow “Russia 24”

In Belarus, signatures are being collected so that the country will be allowed to broadcast the Rossiya 24 channel. It’s hard to believe, but in a Union State partner country, the broadcast of Russia’s main state news channel is actually prohibited. This ban applies to both broadcasting and cable and digital networks. In 2016, there was a completely shocking precedent - a Belarusian roadside cafe was punished for having a TV on in the premises, on which the “Russia 24” program was broadcast.

The fact is that television broadcasting in Belarus is heavily regulated. Only the state decides which TV channels its residents can watch and which they cannot. The Ministry of Information maintains a special list, which currently includes 269 channels approved for broadcasting. Moreover, in this list, in addition to Belarusian and foreign entertainment, there are such news channels as the European Euronews and the Kazakh Khabar 24. Even the Ukrainian UA-TV freely tells Belarusians about “Russian hybrid aggression” and “ATO soldiers.”

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Not everything is simple with other Russian TV channels in Belarus either. Belarusians can watch programs from some channels, but the channels themselves that broadcast them are Belarusian. Thus, “Russia 1” represents the channel “RTR-Belarus,” which is owned by CJSC Stolichnoye Television with 71% of state capital. “NTV-Belarus” is a state television channel. The Belarusian ONT is to a large extent the Russian “First”. BBK is RBC adapted for Belarus. The list can be continued, but the point is the same - instead of the main federal channels with news broadcasting in Belarus, there are only local ones, usually state ones. And they have their own content, broadcast schedule and editorial policy.

The broadcast ban is all the more inappropriate because in Russia itself, a similar Belarusian channel does not face any administrative restrictions and is present in the packages of a number of operators. The distribution of the TV channel in the Russian Federation is handled by the Signal Media company, located in Moscow.

The petition was published on the Belarusian platform “Convenient city”, the collection of signatures will last 7 days and no later than a month after receipt, the ministry will be obliged to respond to it.

The chairman of the “Civil Harmony” movement, Artem Agafonov, who initiated the campaign, believes that it is difficult to count on a quick victory, but after receiving a negative response, he is ready to contact other authorities, including the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, the Russian embassy, ​​and involve other pro-Russian organizations in solving the problem. He believes that in the Union State of Russia and Belarus a single information space should finally be formed and all administrative barriers to the dissemination of television and radio programs and printed publications should be eliminated.

In addition, there is a purely human rights aspect. At least 100 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation live in Belarus, almost a million ethnic Russians and representatives of other peoples of Russia, the majority of Belarusians are sympathetic to Russia and almost all speak Russian. The state is obliged to ensure the right of these people to receive objective first-hand information about what is happening in Russia and the position of the Russian state on current world problems. Otherwise, it somehow doesn’t look like an alliance at all.