Prominent Ukrainian journalist’s social media branded extremist in Belarus
Alaksandar Łukašenka, Dmytro Gordon, August 2020
February 27, Pozirk. A Minsk judge has branded social media by prominent Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon as extremist content shortly after he criticized Alaksandar Łukašenka, pro-government Telegram channels report.
Six days ago, Gordon told Ukraine’s 24tv.ua that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical goal is to subdue and control Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova.
Ukraine had no chance of joining NATO, therefore Putin wants to conquer it and restore the Soviet-like empire, he said.
Moscow’s goals have not changed and should Ukraine fall, Belarus would become part of Russia in that very second, Gordon noted. Łukašenka is still in power thanks to Ukraine, he added.
Gordon interviewed Łukašenka a few days before the 2020 presidential election. The Belarusian ruler assured the journalist that he would not allow Russia to attack Ukraine via Belarus.
Following the 2020 political crisis in Belarus, Gordon criticized Łukašenka on many occasions, including for his support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Authorities in Minsk blocked access to Gordon’s online outlets for Belarusian users.
Extremist content
The government introduced the “extremist content” designation in the wake of the 2020 mass protests against election fraud to punish Belarusians for following critical media outlets and social media accounts.
Belarusian law enforcement officers randomly check people’s phones to see who are they following. Those found to possess or share links to banned media and accounts are punished by fines or jail sentences of up to 15 days under Article 19.11 of the Administrative Offenses Code. It does not carry any punishment for those producing banned content.
Police forced some of those arrested to confess to following “extremist” content before a video camera and then post forced confessions on Telegram accounts to intimidate the public. State television journalists have been involved in recording forced confessions.
The extremist content list contains thousands of entries, so it is actually hard for people to follow it and delete blacklisted content from their devices.
In 2024, the Belarusian government blocked access to more than 3,150 “destructive” accounts, Information Minister Marat Markaŭ said on February 27.
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