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January 21 – January 27, 2013

Lukashenko attempts to overcome international isolation via media

The situation has not changed
Lukashenko attempts to overcome international isolation via media

On January 15, President Lukashenko held a press conference for Belarusian and international mass media. The press conference lasted for almost 5 hours, was attended by over 350 journalists representing 285 media.

The main reason for the frequent meetings of Alexander Lukashenko with journalists in the last six months is the Belarusian President’s international isolation. Ad hoc interviews and press conferences partially fill in the vacuum in the absence of real international political activity.

The large number of international journalists taking part in the January press conference, emphasize the trend, which started in early 2011: during his 4th term, President Lukashenko is increasingly focusing on the Eurasian integration, and makes most of his foreign visits to Moscow. As a result, the authorities are trying to compensate for the “Kremlin misbalance” using information policy tools.

President Lukashenko’s public activity has increased since autumn 2012, for example, in October, he gave an interview to MIR TV and Radio Channel (CIS), the Independent and BBC (UK), he also called a traditional press conference for journalists from Russian regional media. In November and December he was interviewed by Reuters (UK) and met with members of the CIS media Editors Club. All these events took place in Minsk.

Content-wise the press conference on January 15 was of a routine and populist nature as usual. The President indicated there will be no major changes in the foreign policy of Belarus. In particular, he made it clear he was not going to release political prisoners without them asking for pardon. Thus, it is anticipated that in the near future the political conflict between Belarus and the EU and the U.S. will remain frozen.

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