Belarus designates Radio Plato project as an “extremist formation”

Belaru­sian author­i­ties have added the inde­pen­dent inter­net radio project Radio Pla­to to the nation­al reg­istry of orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­u­als alleged­ly involved in “extrem­ist activ­i­ty.”

Radio Pla­to. Screen­shot

Accord­ing to the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s web­site, as of Novem­ber 28, 2025, the KGB des­ig­nat­ed the Radio Pla­to ini­tia­tive an “extrem­ist for­ma­tion” on Novem­ber 20, and the deci­sion took effect the same day.

Radio Pla­to, found­ed in 2018, is an inde­pen­dent online radio sta­tion that pro­motes Belaru­sian music and art projects to a glob­al audi­ence.

Secu­ri­ty ser­vices pub­lished a list of ten peo­ple they claim are mem­bers or founders of the “extrem­ist for­ma­tion,” includ­ing Ali­ak­san­dr Kar­ni­aichuk, Pavel Kir­pikau, Raman Bal­but­s­ki, Yahor Puisha, Ali­ak­sei Labunovich, Dzia­n­is Biareza­vik, Fil­ip Kupryianovich, Mak­sim Zanchuk, Andrei Shynkarou, and Ali­ak­san­dr Rynke­vich.

The Inte­ri­or Min­istry also list­ed online plat­forms alleged­ly used for “extrem­ist activ­i­ty”: the Radio Pla­to web­site (radioplato.by), its social media accounts on Insta­gram and VKon­tak­te, and its Telegram chan­nel. On Novem­ber 26, these plat­forms were added to the nation­al list of extrem­ist pub­li­ca­tions and con­tent by order of the Min­istry of Infor­ma­tion, based on a rul­ing by the Par­ti­zan­s­ki Dis­trict Court of Min­sk issued on Novem­ber 19 — one day before the ini­tia­tive itself was labeled an extrem­ist for­ma­tion.

In a mes­sage post­ed on its web­site, Radio Plato’s team described the des­ig­na­tion as con­fir­ma­tion that the project has become “anoth­er small ele­ment in the vast cat­a­log of media unde­sir­able to the regime.” The sta­tion has paused curat­ed shows and live broad­casts, though its auto­mat­ed music stream remains avail­able.

Under Belaru­sian law, indi­vid­u­als rec­og­nized as mem­bers of an extrem­ist for­ma­tion may face crim­i­nal charges for “cre­at­ing or par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion” or “facil­i­tat­ing extrem­ist activ­i­ty”, with penal­ties of up to 10 years in prison.