Belarus to Grade Ideologists, Boosts Rocket Tech with China

The Belarusian government is introducing a formal system to evaluate the work of its state ideologists using key performance indicators (KPIs). The move was announced by Vladimir Pertsov, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, at a meeting focused on implementing President Alexander Lukashenko’s directive on state ideology. This new framework aims to create a more measurable and controlled approach to shaping public opinion.

The system of so-called “reference points” will be trialed for the remainder of the year before becoming a permanent fixture. According to Pertsov, it will be used to assess the entire “ideological vertical,” the top-down structure responsible for disseminating the state’s official worldview. This marks a shift toward a data-driven strategy for managing the country’s ideological front, moving beyond what was previously guided by intuition.

To measure effectiveness, officials will begin tracking online engagement, including unique users on social media and messenger apps. These modern metrics will supplement traditional methods such as face-to-face and telephone-based sociological surveys, which will continue to be used to gauge the public mood. The state’s ideological messaging is specifically tailored for target groups like the intelligentsia, youth, and workers, with materials warning of an “information war” that could foster negative traits like “social envy” and “intolerance.”

This push for ideological conformity extends into the private sector, with officials calling for the creation of trade union cells or party affiliates within private companies to ensure employees are not excluded from state influence. Pertsov emphasized that ideologists must be “creative and positive” in their work to effectively reach all citizens.

This renewed focus on internal control is running in parallel with a drive to advance Belarus’s military capabilities. President Lukashenko recently chaired a meeting on domestic rocket production, stressing its importance in light of rising “military threats.” He acknowledged that the industry is still developing and that its progress is dependent on available financial resources.

Crucially, Belarus is leaning on international partnerships for this technological push. Lukashenko directly linked the missile development discussions to his upcoming visit to China for talks with President Xi Jinping. Security Council Secretary Alexander Volfovich later confirmed that Belarus’s Polonez missile system was created in cooperation with China and subsequently upgraded domestically, underscoring the deep and ongoing defense relationship between Minsk and Beijing.