Belarus Segodnya Publishing House journalists presented with CIS Secretary General awards

The CIS Executive Committee headquarters has hosted a solemn ceremony to award media representatives with certificates and gratitude from the CIS Secretary General for their great personal contribution to prompt, objective and comprehensive coverage of the events in the CIS

Representatives of the CIS Executive Committee took part in the awards ceremony. CIS First Deputy Secretary General Leonid Anfimov noted that today’s meeting is special, “You often attend our events. However, today is a special occasion and a day when you come not to work as journalists, but as our dear guests, who rightfully make a great contribution to information development within the CIS. Under the current conditions, the role of journalists in countering colour revolutions is significantly increasing; it is really high. The scale and intensity of information wars have reached an unprecedented level – unmatched in scale and intensity in the entire history of humanity.”

The CIS First Deputy Secretary General drew attention to the fact that attacks made by the media of unfriendly countries on Belarus, Russia and other CIS member states begin when something fails to be settled by political means. In particular, he mentioned persistent attempts by external forces to break the ties between the countries and peoples of the former USSR, “Since the 2000s, we have begun to get closer to each other and integrate across various spheres of human activity: from social to economic. The stronger we become, the more embittered our enemies are about this cohesion and this integration of our nations and our states. Of course, all these attempts in the form of colour revolutions are accompanied by information wars, waged by very high-level professionals through influencing the mentality of our people.”

Leonid Anfimov stressed, “In the current conditions, the role of journalists in countering colour revolutions – during which public consciousness has always been fuelled by biased information – is very high. Information from journalists is often the ultimate truth for a person, and a journalist is sometimes believed more than a representative of the authorities. That’s why today the role and civic position of the journalist in maintaining peace and tranquillity is so great.”

Special reporter at SB. Belarus Segodnya’s Political Information Department Anastasia Tselyuk was awarded a diploma from the CIS Secretary General, while photojournalist of the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House Aleksandr Kushner was awarded a letter of gratitude from the CIS Secretary General.

The diplomas of the CIS Secretary General were also awarded to journalist from the MIR TV and Radio Company representative office in Belarus Olga Zabelich; Sputnik Belarus journalist Tamara Belyaeva; TASS news agency journalist in Belarus Natalya Talanova; and Sputnik Belarus photographer Viktor Tolochko. Moreover, BelTA photographer Sergei Sheleg and employee of the MIR TV and Radio Company representative office in Belarus Rita Kornyushenko were awarded gratitude from the CIS Secretary General.