MINSK, 23 August (BelTA) – In an interview with the YouTube channel Glavny. Tur, Press Secretary of the Belarusian President Natalya Eismont revealed what question Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko asked her in the follow up to the Big Conversation with the President, a big press conference on 9 August, BelTA has learned.
The press secretary was asked to comment on the reaction of Aleksandr Lukashenko to the outcomes of the event. She said that after the Big Conversation with the President, which lasted for more than 8 hours, the president had a small meeting with a foreign guest in his office. After that meeting the head of state called Natalya Eismont and asked her opinion. “He kept his promise that he gave to this foreign guest and hosted the meeting after a live conference which lasted for 8 hours and 15 minutes. It means that he did not leave the venue immediately. When he left the Palace of Independence he called me and asked me for my impressions. Of course, it does not mean that you need to heap praise and gush how great everything was. I said that, in my opinion, the conference was relevant, and topical, and… And on this third ‘and' the president interrupted me and asked what was bad.”
According to Natalya Eismont, one hour after the big conference she could not answer at once. “Today we have much more information. We have seen the reports by western mass media. We can already analyze certain things. We see the reaction. Probably, this is my general feeling (it will be seven years in November since my appointment as the press secretary): it was the longest meeting, the longest conversation, and at the same time it flew by very fast. That's what I felt at the moment,” the press secretary said.
BelTA reported earlier that on 9 August the Palace of Independence hosted the Big Conversation with the President. Partaking in it were about 300 people. About 1,000 applications for participation in the meeting with the head of state had been submitted. The number of foreign applications accounted for one third of the number. It was the longest press conference of the head of state which lasted for about 8 hours and 15 minutes. The event was broadcast by about 20 media outlets in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, including in English.
The questions traditionally focused on the domestic situation in Belarus. Apart from politics, the questions dealt with education, healthcare and economy. Since the Big Conversation with the President was held exactly one year after the latest presidential election, a lot of the questions had to do with last year's events. Relations with the West, counteraction of sanctions, and the situation at the borders with the European Union were discussed.
Foreign guests asked Aleksandr Lukashenko about Belarus' interaction with their countries, in particular, with Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland. Representatives of Western media unanimously decided to focus on alleged beatings and torture in Belarus. The president answered those questions as promised.
In addition, the participants of the press conference put forward initiatives, spoke out their points of view, and argued with each other and with the head of state.
