Flagshtok reports police raids, blackmail targeting employees’ families
May 20, Pozirk. Belarusian police searched the homes of the parents of two people linked to the Flagshtok regional media outlet from Homiel yesterday, its Telegram channel reports.
One of the officers conducting the searches from the interior ministry’s organized crime unit “openly stated that such actions would continue as long as the outlet posts new publications,” it noted.
The Flagshtok editorial team linked the searches to the ongoing Russia’s war on Ukraine and developments since 2022, when the Homiel region became involved in Moscow’s military activities.
“It cannot be ruled out that, amid fears of further escalation, authorities are trying to clear the information space of independent media that they cannot control,” the journalists said.
Belarusian authorities branded Flagshtok content as extremist in August 2022, after blacklisting the outlet as an “extremist” group a few months earlier.
Flagshtok was launched in 2020 after a public campaign against plans to build a 60-meter flagpole in Homiel at a reported cost of $500,000.
The outlet covers major developments in the region. Since 2022, it has reported on the movement of Russian troops through southern Belarus during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as on Russian drones entering Belarusian airspace.
Belarusian authorities have continued a systematic crackdown on independent media since the 2020 political crisis.
Belarus ranks between Yemen and Myanmar in RSF Press Freedom Index
April 30, Pozirk. Belarus ranks 165th of 180 assessed countries and territories in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The ranking placed Belarus between Yemen and Myanmar, stressing that the country abuses measures to …
