Did the initiators of the “BelTA case” know what the outcome of the story they began would be? Half a year of interrogations, detentions, charges, losses later, the case was finally transferred to court. The last person accused in the high-profile case is Maryna Zolatava, the chief editor of the portal Tut.by, in the studio of the program “Talk of the Day” answered the questions of Svyatlana Kalinkina about whom was this attack designed for, if there was any Russian interest in the Belarusian media and on which side officials in this confrontation really were.
The guest of “Talk of the Day” admits that she tried, together with colleagues, to calculate how much time was spent on the “BelTA case”. Over the few months, there were more than a hundred interrogations. During this time, it became clear that even the initiators of the case did not know how it would turn out, although, according to Zolatava, this was a deliberate attempt to win back more influence on the Internet for state-owned media. Are the official Belarusian media the only ones interested in the remaking of influence spheres in the domestic media space? Several main Russian channels turned to the Belarusian topic at once. What is it: a journalistic reaction to the events or purposeful work that was once carried out with Ukraine?
“The increased interest in Belarus could be noticedc already in the middle of last year. At least you can judge by the telegram-channel “Nezygar.” At first, the Belarusian subject was not noticeable in it, and then it resurfaced quite often. But I would not compare our situation with the Ukrainian one. Of course, in Russia there is a desire to influence Belarus, Belarusian public opinion, the mood of our population. This is obvious, this is understandable, but I do not think that there could be any more belligerent sentiments here,” Zolatava said.
