Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has given an interview with BBC, BelTA has learned.
The interview lasted for about an hour. The interviewer was Steven Rosenberg, Moscow Correspondent for BBC News. The BBC production team has been working in Belarus for several days, including at the border with Poland. Belarus has provided an unfettered access to all media outlets, including foreign ones, so that they could cover the situation with refugees. Meanwhile, neighboring Poland has declared off-limits to news media.
BBC was one of many foreign media outlets that asked for an interview with the Belarusian head of state, and the production team was invited to the Palace of Independence.
Aleksandr Lukashenko was ready, as always, to answer all the questions that were of interest to the interviewer. The conversation was primarily about the situation on the Belarusian-Polish border, the details of the conversations with Germany's acting Chancellor Angela Merkel, the relations between Belarus and the European Union and Russia.
However, it should be noted that the rhetoric of Western journalists is a set of familiar cliches that are commonplace in the West. The journalist asked the questions that had been repeatedly asked by his colleagues from other Western media outlets and to which Aleksandr Lukashenko had already given exhaustive answers. Representatives of the Western media continue to reproduce the distorted information and outright fakes. The interview with BBC was no exception in this sense.
Nevertheless, the president once again gave answers to all questions.
The interviewer asked about the migrant crisis on the Belarus-EU border, the topic that recently grabbed international headlines. Other questions dealt with the Union State integration, relations between Belarus and Russia, the events that followed the 2020 presidential election in Belarus.
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled his recent interview with the U.S television channel CNN and expressed the hope that BBC journalists will approach the interview in a more accurate and proper way. BBC is expected to air excerpts of the interview in the coming days and publish the full version online later.
The president suggested meeting again for a live conversation so that the Western audience could hear everything the Belarusian leader has to say unedited. However, we are yet to see whether the world's respected news organization is willing to take advantage of this exclusive offer, and whether it is prepared to hear an alternative point of view. But, using the sporting vernacular, the ball is in their court.
After the interview, Belarusian journalists asked Steven Rosenberg how the interview went, what his impressions were. "You do not do an interview to get your interlocutor agree with you. You do it to hear their point of view,” Steven Rosenberg said. “I didn't come to hear something specific. I asked my questions and I was interested to hear the answers.”
To the counter remarks that the president gets to answer one and the same questions in interviews, the BBC journalist replied that “not so often with foreign news outlets."
Steven Rosenberg might be forgetful or simply inattentive. But let's remind him that the head of state answered virtually all of these questions during the big press conference on 9 August where many of Mr. Rosenberg's Western colleagues were present, including a BBC journalist.
On 30 September the Belarusian head of state gave an interview with CNN. The president was interviewed by senior international correspondent of CNN in Russia Matthew Chance. The journalist asked questions that already became traditional for Western mass media. Most of them were based on various fake news, and the head of state had repeatedly refuted most of them before that interview too.
Answer:
Dear Shivendu Paul and Metali Listeners' Club,
dthank you for your comment! We'll send you some of our souvenirs ASAP.
Stay tuned and 73,
RBI
Hallo Radio Belarus,
ja der Dieter Leupold ist jetzt auch hier im Gästebuch vertreten... Super, bald sind wir alle zusammen hier im "Belarus Hörerclub", Dieter könnte 1.Vorsitzender werden und Jana und Elena Ehrernmitglieder, Helmut Matt Schriftführer, Alfred Albrecht Beisitzer und ich mache Hausmeister:-) Lutz Winkler wie fit bist Du bereits wieder, für Dich finden wir auch eine nette Aufgabe:-) Beste Grüße und ein schönes Wochenende.
Dietmar
Answer:
Lieber Dietmar,
das stimmt, für alle finden wir im Hörerklub eine Aufgabe!:)
Liebe Grüße und einen guten Start in die Woche!
I recently learned my surname is not Polish, but Belarusian. I heard you on shortwave in the past and am so happy to listen online in English. We hear nothing about Belarus here in the US so I am so glad to learn about your country. Keep on broadcasting in English. I also joined the Hoererklub on Facebook as I can understand German. If you have information or a station pennant, I will very much appreciate it.
Sheryl Paszkiewicz, 1015 Green St, Manitowoc WI 54220 USA
Answer:
Dear Sheryl, thank you very much for listening to us! We'll send you some of our souvenirs as soon as we can. By the way, if you're interested, you can participate in our "The Old Country's Loving Call" project and send a greeting to Belarus. You can find more detailed information at http://www.radiobelarus.by/en/content/hukaje_eng
Also, in case you like sports, here's the link to an international competition of ours "My Greetings to 2nd European Games" http://www.radiobelarus.by/en/content/games_eng
73 from the entire staff of RBI! Прывiтанне з Малой Радiзмы :)
Hello from Birmingham United Kingdom!
My name is Michael.
I really enjoyed listening to your program on the Hotbird satellite 13e. I very much love listening to your news and current affairs.
Ask you to send me a small gifts. I hope you guys are all good.
Lots of love from UK
Especially enjoying learning about Belarus. History and culture
Michael Rogers
Flat 2 463 City road Birmingham
B17 8LG
United Kingdom
Answer:
Michael,
thank you very much for listening to us! We're glad that you enjoy our programs. We'll send you some of our souvenirs as soon as we can. Best regards and stay tuned!
Hello. I am a new listener to your English service. I listen on the Radio 1 News app. I enjoyed listening to the news. Do you have any information on shortwave broadcasts you can send me?
Thank you,
Joe Cosimo
23 Ivy Ln, Dupont, PA 18641 U.S.A.
Answer:
Dear Joe, thank you for listening to Radio Belarus International! We're glad that you enjoyed our news. RBI broadcasts on shortwave only in German on 6005 and 3985 kHz. News and programs in English are available via our website and satellites. We'll also send you a postcard and a small souvenir as soon as we can. 73!
Hello,
My name is Younes Lazazi, I am from Algeria.
I am very happy that radio Belarus has started broadcasting in Arabic.
I would like to receive stickers and printed matter of the station and the Arabic and french services if possible.
My address:
Monsieur Younes Lazazi 14 rue Maza Boualem El-Harrach 16009 Alger Algérie
Thank you.
Answer:
Dear Younes Lazazi,
we're happy that you like our boradcasts. We'll send you some of our printed materials via mail in the nearest future. 73!
Dear English Service Radio Belarus,
Greetings to all staff and listeners of English Service of Radio Belarus. We listen your webcast program. Your program quality is very nice. Your website is colorful & documented. We liked your programs, News, and Current Affairs Program. We are interested about Culture, life style of Belarusian people, historical places, Tourist attraction and destination of Belarus.
Please send some program schedule, sticker, view card, Promotional items of Radio Belarus for our club members and students.
We are waiting for your reply.
With best wishes,
SHIVENDU PAUL
President
Metali Listeners' Club
India
Answer:
Dear Shivendu Paul,
thank you very much for listening to us! Your club is among our most dedicated listeners. We will send you some of our promotional products as soon as possible. 73!
Hello!
Did the arabic programmes start? I don't see them on your Internetcast schedule page. Thanks!
Answer:
Hello! The Arabic programmes have been on air since October, every Monday. You can see the schedule and listen to them on our Arabic page http://radiobelarus.by/ar
FM transmitters and frequencies:
Rakitnitsa - 106.2 MHz
Hrodna - 95.7 MHz
Svislach - 104.4 MHz
Heraniony - 99.9 MHz
Braslau - 106.6 MHz
Miadzel - 102.0 MHz
Satellite broadcasting:
see satellite parameters here
