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Belarusian officials angered by broadcasting in Russia of scandalous documentary about Lukashenka

Belarusian officials have condemned the broadcasting by a major Russian TV channel of a documentary implicating Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the disappearances of his political opponents as slanderous and inappropriate on the eve of the Belarusian leader’s important talks with his Russian and Kazakh counterparts in Astana, Kazakhstan, BelaPAN reports.

On Sunday evening, Russia’s government-controlled NTV broadcast “Kryostny Batska” (Godbatska), a film that tells about the mysterious death of opposition leader Henadz Karpenka and the disappearances of former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, opposition politician Viktar Hanchar, businessman Anatol Krasowski and journalist Dzmitry Zavadski, who are alleged to have been kidnapped and murdered by a government-run death squad.

The film also deals with the private life of the Belarusian leader, who is widely dubbed “Batska” (Father), his natural son Kolya, and with Russia’s generous support of Mr. Lukashenka’s regime, which is said to have totaled billions of dollars. It features an interview with former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin and Mr. Lukashenka’s statement that led to his labeling as a professed admirer of Adolf Hitler.

“Some Russian television channels, which are only formally independent, in fact slung much mud at the head of state and Belarus in an attempt to put unprecedented information pressure,” the government’s news agency BelTA quoted an unnamed member of the Belarusian delegation in Kazakhstan as saying.

“The lies against Belarus look rather well-organized, which is especially strange considering that we are being invited to be an ally and a partner in the Customs Union,” the official said.