TASS chief comments on removal of BelTA’s YouTube channel

MOSCOW, 4 April (BelTA) – Any media outlet in Belarus and Russia that defends the interests of its homeland is considered an enemy in the West, Director General of Russia’s news agency TASS Andrey Kondrashov said commenting on the removal of the YouTube channels of BelTA, ONT and STV by the American video platform, BelTA has learned.

“You have joined a very good company of honest and verified journalists, who stand for facts and truth, not for dancing to the tune of Washington’s puppeteers,” Andrey Kondrashov told a BelTA correspondent.

He noted that the illusions of the 1990s (the belief in fairness, objectivity, and truth supposedly carried by “enlightened” European and American media) should have long since disappeared. “We must understand that they treat us as if we were enemies,” the TASS director general stressed.

He also pointed out that, under the internal rules of many Western social networks and major online platforms, any media linked to the state is automatically considered non-objective. “They simply do not believe us if we have any connection to the state. Meaning that if your information in any way reflects the interests of your homeland, you are acting against their state. From this perspective, all of us should have been shut down long ago. And frankly, I am surprised this happened to you only now: we faced these problems eight years ago,” Andrey Kondrashov said.

“All I can wish for my colleagues is to remain honest, truthful, and to verify every fact you release into the public space, just as before. And my most important advice is to continue loving your homeland. Because that is far more important than having a place under the sun of some YouTube,” he added.

Commenting on the appearance of fake channels after BelTA’s YouTube channel was blocked, Andrey Kondrashov noted that this is a well-established tactic. “The most valuable thing on major platforms is your audience. When a major media outlet is blocked, the audience remains. The best opportunity for those who want to make money or capture that audience is to instantly create a clone. These may be ordinary financial scammers or politically motivated actors seeking to manipulate BelTA’s audience,” he warned.