Belarusian opposition on Russia's NTV

[Curt F. Woolhiser]

Dear SEELANGERs,

Returning to the topic of the recent elections in Belarus, on December 24th
Russia's NTV ran a special edition of the talk show "Poslednee slovo," entitled
"Kak svergali Bat'ku." Among the guests were several members of the Belarusian
opposition, including Natallia Kaliada and her husband Mikalaj Khalezin from
the underground Belarus Free Theatre (Kaliada was among those arrested on
Independence Square in Minsk on the evening of the 19th). Also participating in
the program were several Russian journalists who were in Minsk to cover the
elections, a few pro-Lukashenko Russian politicians and journalists, as well as
(by live video feed from Minsk) Aleksandr Zimovskii, the chairman of Belarusian
State Television and Radio. The resulting shouting match at times resembled
American "talk shows" a la Maury Povich, but nevertheless it's interesting that
the mainstream Russia media continue to provide a forum for the Belarusian
opposition even after Medvedev struck another deal with Lukashenko earlier this
month and refrained from publicly criticizing the Belarusian leader in the wake
of the crackdown on the opposition. The show also includes some footage filmed
by Russian and Belarusian journalists in Minsk before and after the elections:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avgaXabOUAs

In addition, here's an interesting piece from the Russian news portal
"Svobodnaja pressa" reflecting on the significance of the recent events in
Belarus (as far as I am aware, the comparison of Lukashenko to Romanian
dictator Ceausescu first appeared in an op-ed piece in "Rossijskaja gazeta"
after the "milk war" between Belarus and Russia in 2009):

http://svpressa.ru/blogs/article/36270/

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