Belarusian MIA declares Mediazona.Belarus an “extremist organization”

On 26 Feb­ru­ary, the online pub­li­ca­tion Mediazona.Belarus appeared on the list of organ­i­sa­tions, for­ma­tions and indi­vid­ual entre­pre­neurs pro­mot­ing extrem­ist activ­i­ties on the web­site of the Min­istry of Inter­nal Affairs of Belarus.

The doc­u­ment states that by the deci­sion of the Min­istry of Inter­nal Affairs of Belarus on Feb­ru­ary 26, 2025, the “group of cit­i­zens, includ­ing lead­ers and active par­tic­i­pants of the online project Mediazona.Belarus,” was rec­og­nized as an “extrem­ist for­ma­tion” for alleged­ly engag­ing in “extrem­ist activ­i­ties, includ­ing through Inter­net resources.”

In addi­tion to the publication’s web­site and socials, the media project’s logo was also rec­og­nized as “extrem­ist.”

Accord­ing to the Min­istry of Inter­nal Affairs of Belarus, Nas­ta Boi­ka is named as the per­son who alleged­ly coor­di­nat­ed the “extrem­ist activ­i­ties.” She is described as the leader and edi­tor.

A mes­sage post­ed on 26 Feb­ru­ary on a Telegram chan­nel close­ly linked to the Belaru­sian secu­ri­ty forces said that the Mediazona.Belarus project had been declared an “extrem­ist for­ma­tion” for “organ­is­ing activ­i­ties to pre­pare actions aimed at under­min­ing the sov­er­eign­ty and pub­lic secu­ri­ty of the Repub­lic of Belarus, as well as dis­cred­it­ing and insult­ing offi­cials”.