Everything is bad in Poland, and it is preparing for war (if propaganda is to be believed) / euroradio.fm
About 2% of all posts on the Telegram channel of the main Belarusian state news agency BelTA are somehow related to Poland. That may seem like a small share, but it effectively means every 50th message in a vast stream of news.
Euroradio analysed publications on BelTA's Telegram channel from the beginning of June to mid-August — the sample included nearly 11,000 posts. It turned out that the number of news items about Poland is gradually increasing.
Unsurprisingly, almost all news mentioning Poland is negative. The exception is sports news.
The most popular topic is various problems in Poland. It goes so far that the country's main news agency reports on a wood chip shortage in one Polish region or on the growing number of shopping centres and shops introducing paid parking. Also in the mix are stories about the Polish labour market and rising prices — even though inflation in Poland is lower than in Belarus.
The second most frequent topic is the "military threat" emanating from Poland. Various military exercises, an American military base and so on down the list — a picture is painted of preparations for aggression against Belarus.
Predictably, the top topics also include news about queues at the border — often accompanied by comments blaming the Polish side. Almost as frequently, the theme of anti-Ukrainian and anti-migrant sentiment in Poland surfaces: the suggestion being that society is tired of migrants, conflicts are becoming more common, and most foreigners may face deportation.
In fifth place is the topic of the conflict between Polish and Ukrainian authorities that arose after Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to name one of the military units after the "Heroes of the UPA". BelTA covered this topic more actively than many Polish or Ukrainian media outlets. Commentators described as "political analysts" frequently claimed that an "irreparable rift" had occurred between official Kyiv and Warsaw.
Belarus's other neighbour, Lithuania, is mentioned in BelTA almost half as often as Poland. The most frequently mentioned countries are, unsurprisingly, Russia and Ukraine.
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