MINSK, 19 July (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko gave an interview to Sky News Arabia on 19 July, BelTA has learned.
The interview lasted for about an hour. The head of state answered the journalist's questions about the emergency landing of the Ryanair aircraft, whether the president thinks it was a provocation, and if it was by whom. Special attention was also drawn to the relations of Belarus with the West and the possibility of the dialogue with the EU, sanctions and their impact on the country's economy. One of the questions touched on the topic of illegal migration through Belarus to the countries of the European Union. Besides, the interviewer asked about Belarus' participation in the next session of the UN General Assembly.
The channel's chief news editor, Imad El Atrache, was the interviewer. Born in Lebanon, he previously worked for Italian state television, Al Jazeera and France 24. He has covered the fighting in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, and has interviewed a number of prominent political and religious figures, including Pope Francis, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, President of the European Commission Romano Prodi.
After the interview with the Belarusian head of state Imad El Atrache shared his impressions with reporters. In his words, the events which are going on in Belarus are interesting not only for the audience of the TV channel but also for the people living in a number of countries where Sky News Arabia is available. “The whole world and TV viewers in various countries want to know what is going on in your country since it is on the international agenda,” he said.
“All questions which I had sent to the Belarusian side during my preparations for the interview were kept, including those dealing with the internal situation in Belarus, the detention of Roman Protasevich – all of them remained in the list of questions for the head of state, and I got answers to them,” the journalist said.
Sky News Arabia is an Arabic 24-hour rolling news channel broadcast mainly in the Middle East and North Africa. The channel is broadcast to 50 million households via satellite and cable providers, the Internet and mobile applications. Sky News Arabia is headquartered in the Abu Dhabi Free Media Zone.
