Belarus: ‘Sanitary Control’ on Books Amid Anti-Polish Campaign

Belarusian state propagandists have launched a coordinated information campaign heavily criticizing Poland, coinciding with the country’s ‘National Unity Day.’ The holiday, celebrated on September 17, commemorates the 1939 Red Army invasion that led to the annexation of Western Belarus, then part of Poland, into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The government’s messaging was disseminated through a nationwide ‘unified day of public information’ held the following day.

Official methodological guides, developed by the Academy of Public Administration under the President, tailored the anti-Polish narrative for different audiences, including youth, industrial workers, and the intelligentsia. The materials for the latter group contained particularly harsh rhetoric, accusing the current Polish establishment of being the ideological successor to the pre-war Piłsudski regime and displaying ‘servility to the Anglo-Saxons.’

The propaganda also attacked the ‘Pole’s Card,’ a document confirming Polish ancestry available to citizens of former Soviet republics. The government guide described it as a ‘brand that marks cattle,’ which ‘masters place on their property, even if it is future property.’ This language frames recipients of the card as being claimed by a foreign power.

President Alexander Lukashenko personally reinforced this historical narrative during a meeting with ideological and historical experts. ‘We should talk, breaking years of silence, about the heavy mark the Polish authorities left on the lands torn from our Soviet republic,’ he stated. Lukashenko also lamented past efforts to maintain peaceful relations, claiming that while Belarus ‘was thinking about friendship, they were turning us into subhumans and outright enemies over there.’

Despite the intense focus on historical and ideological messaging, Lukashenko expressed caution about formally adopting a new national ideology. In response to a question, he insisted that such an idea cannot be created ‘by decree’ or ‘on demand.’ ‘It is better if we give birth to nothing now, during Lukashenko’s tenure, than if we create just anything and then don’t know what to do with it,’ the president remarked.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information has launched a new project to enhance its control over the public narrative: a direct line for citizens to ask questions to Minister Marat Markov via Telegram. In his first public response, Markov addressed a query about the state’s list of ‘unrecommended books’ and whether readers should be allowed to choose for themselves.

The minister firmly rejected the idea, denying it was censorship. Instead, he framed the restrictions as a necessary defense ‘from targeted brainwashing.’ ‘When it comes to protecting the national cultural code and the mental health of the nation, the state cannot stand aside and rely only on everyone to independently filter out propaganda of violence, hatred, or perversions,’ Markov explained.

He compared the list of banned literature to a form of ‘sanitary control,’ arguing that allowing the sale of such books would imply state support for their content. ‘This cannot be allowed,’ the minister concluded emphatically. ‘After all, Belarus is famous for its cleanliness.’