MINSK, 4 October (BelTA) - More than 10 foreign media outlets are on the waiting list for an interview with the Belarusian president, spokesman for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Glaz said on air of the YouTube channel “Glavny. Tur”, BelTA has learned.
He assured that there is no media isolation of Belarus, as some opponents claim. “Requests come through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or directly to the press service of the head of state. In any case, they go back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if they come from a foreign mass media. There are many such requests. Our president enjoys very high citation and clickthrough rates. This has been true for many years in absolutely different parts of the world and languages,” said Anatoly Glaz.
He stressed that there has never been a case when Belarus had to ask for an interview or search for some major prestigious media. “We have always had a lot of requests, both before August 2020 and after it. Their number even increased after August 2020. Requests are made by all kinds of media from Japan and the UAE to the United States,” the spokesman said.
Anatoly Glaz noted that CNN was not the only news organization on the waiting list for an interview with the Belarusian president. "The list features probably about 10 media outlets that will definitely get an interview some time in the future," he said.
As for CNN, this company had repeatedly requested an interview with Aleksandr Lukashenko. "Our main condition was to broadcast the interview unabridged," Anatoly Glaz noted.
He also noted that the allegations from some self-exiled personalities about Belarus' media isolation or the lack of requests from the media of the ‘civilized' countries are amusing. "Recently, one of our citizens self-exiled in a neighboring country said it with confidence that Lukashenko would never get to CNN. Now the full interview is available on the website of CNN International," Anatoly Glaz stated.
"Many people from both the East and the West want to talk to our president. The most difficult thing is to find time in the schedule of the head of state," Anatoly Glaz added.
