Belarusian Telegraph Agency

The Belarusian Telegraph Agency or BelTA (Belarusian: Беларускае Тэлеграфнае Агенцтва, Russian: Белорусское Телеграфное Агентство, БелТА) is the state-owned national news agency of the Republic of Belarus. It operates in Russian, Belarusian, English, German, Spanish and Chinese languages.[1] Since 2018, the director of BELTA is Irina Akulovich [2]

Belarusian Telegraph Agency
Native name
Беларускае тэлеграфнае агенцтва
TypeRepublican Unitary Enterprise
IndustryNews media
FoundedDecember 23, 1918 (1918-12-23)
HeadquartersMinsk, Belarus
ProductsWire service
Ownerwholly owned by government of Belarus
Websitebelta.by

History

The agency was founded on December 23, 1918. During the Soviet times BelTA cooperated with the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS), although it was legally independent of it.

After the USSR ceased to exist in 1991, BelTA has been the national news agency of Belarus. It transmits over a hundred daily reports, and provides information to other news agencies of Commonwealth of Independent States members about the activities of Belarusian officials and organizations in and out of the country.

BelTA has offices in all regions of Belarus, as well as abroad. The main office is in Minsk.

EU sanctions

The BelTA Director-General Dzmitry Zhuk has been banned from Entering the European Union between 2011 and 2016 as part of the EU's sanctions against Belarus following what the EU describes as a crackdown of opposition protests after the 2010 presidential election.[3] According to the EU Council's decision concerning restrictive measures against Belarus following the 2010 election, Dzmitry Zhuk is responsible for "relaying state propaganda in the media, which has supported and justified the repression of the democratic opposition and of civil society on December 19, 2010 using falsified information."[4]

Claims

The company almost always provided unconfirmed and unreliable Pro-government[5] information.[6]

See also

References
  1. BELTA website (English language version)
  2. "New director general introduced to BelTA's staff | Press releases, Belarus | Belarus.by". www.belarus.by. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  3. Поўны спіс 208 беларускіх чыноўнікаў, якім забаронены ўезд у ЕС – [Full list of 208 Belarusian officials banned from entering the EU], Nasha Niva, October 11, 2011
  4. .Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP of 15 October 2012 concerning restrictive measures against Belarus, EUR-Lex, 2012
  5. "Belarus president sworn in at unannounced inaugural ceremony". Arkansas Online. September 23, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  6. "Lukashenka Abruptly Sworn In For New Term As Belarusian President". Big News Network.com. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
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