In August, a Belarusian journalist had a conflict with the director of United Company fuel station. The reason was the refusal of the filling station staff to switch the Russian channel into any Belarusian one. The station director Vital Kulak demanded that only the ‘Russia 24’ channel be broadcast there.
Labadzenka wrote a complaint addressed to the Ministry of Information, Ministry of Communications, the main ideologist of Staubtsy Region Executive Committee, and called Vital Kulak.
It turned out that the “Russia 24” broadcast is forbidden not only at the gas pump, but in general in Belarus. This response Labadzenka received from the Deputy Head of the Electronic Media Department Nadzeya Belskaya. The official sent the complaint to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Ministry of Information explained that electronic media broadcasts can only be made by those who are in a special registry of the Ministry of Information and has signed a broadcasting contract with a particular channel. There is no fuel station in that registry.
It means that the ‘United Company’ cannot broadcast not only the “Russia 24” but virtually any channel. According to Belarusian law, only nine channels of the so-called “social package” can be broadcast in a public place. Among them are “Belarus 1”, “Belarus 2”, “Belarus 3”, “Belarus 5”.
“Russia 24” is not present in the list of 209 foreign channels permitted for distribution in Belarus. Personal use is unlikely to be fined, but public broadcasting may lead to liability.
Labadzenka is going to sue Mr Kulak for broadcasting the Russian channel and for responding to the Belarusian complaint in Russian. Overall, the filling station director may receive a fine of BYN 504 to 1,470.
