Appeal for Support in Preserving the Belarusian-Language Version of LSM+

Chair­per­son of the Human Rights and Pub­lic Affairs Com­mit­tee of the Saeima

Chair­per­son of the Board of Direc­tors of “Latvi­jas Sabiedriskais medi­js”

To the Coun­cil of Pub­lic Elec­tron­ic Media of the Repub­lic of Latvia (SEPLPz

Saeimas Cil­vēk­tiesību un sabiedrisko lietu komisi­ja

Appeal for Sup­port in Pre­serv­ing the Belaru­sian-Lan­guage Ver­sion of LSM+ as a Key Tool in Coun­ter­ing Pro­pa­gan­da

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ), a pub­lic orga­ni­za­tion that has defend­ed free­dom of expres­sion in Belarus for over 30 years, is a mem­ber of the Inter­na­tion­al and Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tions of Jour­nal­ists and a lau­re­ate of the UNESCO World Press Free­dom Prize.

We high­ly appre­ci­ate the efforts of Lat­vian pub­lic media to sup­port the inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian soci­ety and ensure its right to receive truth­ful, accu­rate, and time­ly infor­ma­tion in the Belaru­sian lan­guage.

Over the years, the regime of dic­ta­tor Alexan­der Lukashenko has sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly sup­pressed both the right to free infor­ma­tion and Belaru­sian-lan­guage cul­ture and media. As a result, today Belaru­sian soci­ety has access to only a lim­it­ed num­ber of trust­wor­thy media out­lets in the Belaru­sian lan­guage, while the demand for inde­pen­dent infor­ma­tion remains strong.

In this con­text, the work of each high-qual­i­ty for­eign media out­let aimed at the Belaru­sian audi­ence is of excep­tion­al impor­tance. The Belaru­sian-lan­guage ver­sion of LSM+ plays a cru­cial role not only for audi­ences inside Belarus, but also for those who were forced to flee the coun­try because of repres­sion after 2020 fraud­u­lent pres­i­den­tial elec­tions. 

Accord­ing to offi­cial data, over 50,000 eth­nic Belaru­sians live in Latvia, mak­ing them one of the country’s three largest eth­nic minori­ties.

We respect­ful­ly urge you to con­sid­er pre­serv­ing the Belaru­sian sec­tion of LSM+ and high­light its unique sig­nif­i­cance for the fol­low­ing rea­sons:

Coun­ter­ing pro­pa­gan­da: By pro­vid­ing reg­u­lar, fact-based cov­er­age of events in Belarus in Belaru­sian, with trans­la­tions into main lan­guages ​​of the por­tal, LSM+ helps counter dis­in­for­ma­tion — espe­cial­ly at a time when the Belaru­sian regime active­ly recruits Lat­vian cit­i­zens under the guise of tourism and con­tributes to bor­der insta­bil­i­ty through engi­neered migra­tion flows.

Chal­leng­ing stereo­types: Pub­lish­ing con­tent in Belaru­sian helps break down Krem­lin-dri­ven myths such as the false notion that “Belaru­sians are just Rus­sians” and offers an alter­na­tive, authen­tic nar­ra­tive.

A plat­form for dia­logue: The Belaru­sian edi­to­r­i­al team pro­vides a per­ma­nent plat­form for cov­er­ing demo­c­ra­t­ic civ­il soci­ety, fos­ter­ing dia­logue among Belaru­sians in Latvia and address­ing issues of inte­gra­tion and adap­ta­tion.

Region­al reach and impact: The edi­to­r­i­al con­tent is active­ly read not only across the Baltic region and Poland, but also in the Belaru­sian bor­der regions, despite being blocked by Belaru­sian author­i­ties which only con­firms its sig­nif­i­cance and the threat it pos­es to the author­i­tar­i­an regime.

Since its estab­lish­ment in July 2023, the Belaru­sian sec­tion of LSM+ formed by Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists forced into exile for polit­i­cal rea­sons has become a vital source for the Belaru­sian dias­po­ra in Latvia com­mit­ted to demo­c­ra­t­ic val­ues.

Pre­serv­ing Belaru­sian-lan­guage jour­nal­ism at the lev­el of a nation­al pub­lic broad­cast­er sends a pow­er­ful and inspir­ing mes­sage to the Belaru­sian nation, one that is awak­en­ing and striv­ing for its nation­al iden­ti­ty.

In light of the above, the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists respect­ful­ly appeals for your sup­port in pre­serv­ing the Belaru­sian-lan­guage sec­tion of LSM+.

With sin­cere respect,

Andrei Bas­tunets

Chair­per­son of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists