The accreditation cards issued earlier to journalists of foreign media officially expired on October 2. The Foreign Ministry explains this decision by the entry into force of the new edition of the Regulations on the procedure for accrediting foreign journalists in the Republic of Belarus.
The relevant statement was posted on the website of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
“In accordance with the Concept of Information Security of the Republic of Belarus,”the information sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus is the most important target for ensuring information security”. In the current situation, we are forced to exercise our sovereign right and apply the necessary protective measures, including in the form of new provisions of the Regulation,” the statement says.
In particular, the new regulation provides for a reduction in the period for consideration of documents submitted for accreditation (from 20 to 5 days for temporary accreditation and from 2 months to 30 days for permanent one), and also introduces the possibility of extending permanent accreditation for up to 3 years.
“In connection with the adoption of the new regulation, the validity of previously issued accreditation cards is officially terminated on October 2,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Applications for new accreditation will begin on October 5th. Consideration of applications will be carried out by the new commission on accreditation of foreign media journalists of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
Thus, since yesterday, all journalists of foreign media in Belarus have been deprived of the right to work until the Foreign Ministry approves their new accreditation applications.
Earlier the Ministry of Information deprived the TUT.by of the official media status.
