Business monthly Belorusy i Rynok suspends publication

December 6, BPN. Managers of the privately-owned Belorusy i Rynok newspaper, founded 32 years ago, have suspended its publication.

It will not come out in print or online in the first half of 2023, the editors told BPN. Publication may resume in the second half of the year. Biełpošta, the national postal service, deleted the monthly from its distribution catalog.

The Belorusy i Rynok monthly managed to survive the crackdown on the media, but experienced serious financial difficulties.

On May 18, 2022 the Committee for State Security (KGB) arrested Belorusy i Rynok director Kanstancin Załatych, editor-in-chief Andrej Aleksandrovič and accountant Julija Kachno.

Aleksandrovič and Kachno were freed later that day. Załatych is held in pre-trial detention. He has been charged with “inciting hatred” and recognized as a political prisoner by human rights groups.

On July 23, the Ministry of Information blocked access to the newspaper’s website because of alleged links to “extremist” content.

Belorusy i Rynok was founded in December 1990 as the Belorusskiy Rynok weekly. It was renamed in September 2005, after Alaksandr Łukašenka had prohibited private entities from using the words “national” and “Belarusian” (Belorusskiy). It was published once a month in the last two years.