New information minister: Belarusians need protection from 'harmful information'

Belarusians need protection "from information [on the internet], which harms the state, " new Information Minister Ihar Lutski said in an STV broadcast, adding that his ministry has a task of communicating "the state's policy" to the population. The Ministry of Information will "adjust the work of mass media" in order to fulfill this task.

"We are seeing already now, during this important political campaign [presidential elections] what is happening on the internet, on social media, on the websites, on video hosting sites," the Minister said, stressing that it "has a serious impact" on the situation in Belarus and on how this country is going to develop.

"It is very easy to brainwash. Digital noise has a serious influence on minds," Mr. Lutski believes. The state-owned media will "destroy this digital noise and reach out to people with reliable information."

Ihar Lutski is 48 years old. In 2014-2018, he served as First Deputy Minister of Information. He later worked as STV CEO before his appointment as the Minister of Information on 4 June 2020.

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