Expert on blocking Belarus’ media sites in Latvia: recognition of high quality mark

Blocking the websites of Belarusian media in Latvia will only fuel the interest of this country’s citizens in our information resources – as stated by political scientist Piotr Petrovsky in his talk with Alfa Radio

Latvia’s National Electronic Mass Media Council has decided to block access to the website of the Belarusian ONT TV channel – www.ont.by – and that of the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House: www.sb.by. The authorities of the Baltic Republic believe that these media outlets allegedly disseminate information discrediting the Latvian state and NATO.

“Using a simple language, without any legal terms, they literally said the following: ‘We forbid you to read ideologically incorrect information that does not correspond to the wishes of the Latvian elites and the centres of NATO information and psychological operations; you must be fooled by NATO propaganda’. Actually, Latvia is not a sovereign state. Though it does have a flag, a coat of arms, and an anthem, it does not decide independently what to ban, as it is completely controlled by the corresponding owners,” noted Piotr Petrovsky.

According to him, the ban of the Latvian authorities recognises Belarus’ quality mark.

“Moreover, our information resources do not follow the Latvian agenda so closely. We primarily cover Latvia only when it concerns us, e.g., the situation with refugees. If they don’t like certain facts, there is the UN, their curators – the USA and the UK which are permanent members of the UN Security Council. Come on, raise these issue. Firstly, everything is done in an extralegal way, and secondly, the Americans are not interested in discussing this issue. All this comes down to formalised bans that will only fuel interest,” the political scientist added.

He drew attention to the NATO propaganda that is being offered to Western society nowadays.

“As far as Ukraine is concerned, they have been writing that they would soon win since 2022. Where is this propaganda now? These ‘journalists’ from France and Germany to Poland and Latvia should be held accountable for what they were writing, for nonsense they were speaking. Our media will not release unverified information while theirs are allowed to write whatever they want,” stressed the expert.