Exiled media fight to keep Belarusian language alive

washington — While the Belarusian government continues a long-running clampdown on use of the Belarusian language, exiled news outlets are leading the fight to keep their language — and cultural identity — alive.

Although Belarusian has been the country’s official language since Belarus declared independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, there has been an ongoing process of Russification since President Alexander Lukashenko came to power in 1994. 

That process has only accelerated since 2020 when Lukashenko — seen by some to be a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin — declared victory in an election that was widely viewed as fraudulent. Since then, the Belarusian government has grown increasingly hostile toward Belarusian as the language has become more and more associated with resistance toward Lukashenko’s rule. 

As Minsk continues to grow closer to Moscow, Belarusian media outlets that left the country following the 2020 elections see it as their duty to help keep the Belarusian language alive through their reporting, multiple media leaders told VOA. 

“It’s a strategic move to preserve the language, to preserve the culture, which is being actively attacked,” said Natalia Belikova, head of international cooperation at Press Club Belarus in Poland’s capital Warsaw. 

Belarusian not illegal, but unwelcome

Speaking Belarusian isn’t illegal in Belarus, but the government has long made clear its preference for Russian, which has been the other official language in Belarus since 1995. Belarusian is more similar to Ukrainian than Russian.

Instead of outlawing Belarusian entirely, the government has taken steps like targeting Belarusian-language newspapers and bookstores. Classes in school are more often taught in Russian, and there aren’t any universities where Belarusian is the primary language. Government officials tend to speak Russian, and government documents are often in Russian, too. 

“The presence of Belarusian language is vividly vanishing,” Belikova said. “‘Upsetting’ is probably a milder word for this. It’s really devastating.”

A 2019 census found that around 60% of the population consider Belarusian their native language, but only about 28% use the language at home. 

Still, since Belarusian isn’t banned, speaking it is one of the few remaining ways for people to safely signal their political beliefs and opposition to Lukashenko, multiple journalists said. 

However, multiple analysts said doing so in public is likely to draw negative attention from authorities because the language is so closely associated with the resistance. 

“Formally, it’s safe. It’s OK to speak Belarusian in Belarus. But in practice, well, it’s not safe,” Pavel Sviardlou, editor-in-chief of European Radio for Belarus, told VOA from Warsaw. 

The Belarusian foreign ministry did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

As the Belarusian government works to suppress the Belarusian language in favor of Russian, leaders from prominent exiled outlets like European Radio for Belarus, Nasha Niva and Zerkalo say their outlets are prioritizing coverage in the Belarusian language.

In the case of Nasha Niva, one of the oldest Belarusian newspapers, the outlet’s mission has long been to popularize the Belarusian language, culture and history, according to the newspaper’s director Nastassia Rouda. That mission has become more important since the contested 2020 election, after which hundreds of journalists fled the country to escape harassment and censorship. 

“Who, if not us? This is the question,” Rouda told VOA from Lithuania. 

Nasha Niva’s primary language is Belarusian, but the outlet also translates everything into Russian. European Radio for Belarus operates similarly. 

“This is a chance to, for example, listen to Belarusian every day, to read in Belarusian every day. And, of course, to feel that the language is not dead,” Sviardlou said.

The fight to preserve the Belarusian language goes hand in hand with the more obvious role that exiled media play — ensuring people still inside Belarus can access independent news about what’s happening. 

“Only media like us, who are working from exile right now, can give some truthful information about the political situation. No one inside can do this,” Nasha Niva’s Rouda said. 

Although Belarusian authorities block access to independent news sites, Belarusians still access them with circumvention tools like virtual private networks, or VPNs. 

Despite the risks and the fact that the government spent about 50 million euros ($55 million) on propaganda in 2023 alone, it’s clear that many people inside Belarus, which has a population of about 9 million, still regularly access banned news sites. 

The five biggest sites had over 17 million visits in December 2023, according to a 2024 JX Fund report. The news outlet Zerkalo, for instance, receives about 3 million unique visitors each month, with about 60% of them located inside Belarus, according to a 2024 Press Club Belarus report. 

Zerkalo is the successor outlet of Tut.by, which was the largest independent news site in Belarus until authorities shut it down in 2021. 

As the Belarus government grows ever closer with Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, exiled Belarusian media view their efforts as critical to maintaining a distinct Belarusian identity. The stakes are high, according to Aliaksandra Pushkina, a board member of Zerkalo.

“If we lose our culture, our language, we really will be a part of Russia,” she told VOA  from Austria. 

While exiled outlets are prioritizing Belarusian language coverage, Belarusian propaganda outlets inside the country primarily use Russian, according to Sviardlou. 

“They don’t even try to work in Belarusian because they understand that no one will listen to them,” he said. 

He asserted that Belarusian has taken on a different meaning, saying, “It is a language of truth.”
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