Among the participants were Belarusian propagandists -

, head of the department of ideological work of the Minsk City Executive Committee

.

The editors-in-chief of the pro-government media Tochka.by and Smartpress were also invited - respectively,

and

.

The international guests were represented, in particular, by the French journalist

.

He is a frequent guest of Russian propaganda shows, who claimed that he "saw with his own eyes the atrocities of the Ukrainian army", but did not provide any facts.

In the past, Bakke was a military man who wrote a high-profile book about his own wound, which turned out to be a fabrication, and was widely reported in the French press.

In Minsk, Bakke said that he wants to open the world's eyes to what is happening in Ukraine.

He was willingly quoted by the Belarusian state media.

The organizers of the forum were the Ministry of Information, Minsk City Executive Committee, Belarusian Union of Journalists, BRSM, Faculty of Journalism of BSU.

It is noteworthy that among the organizers there are two structures related to UNESCO (a specialized UN agency for education, science, and culture).

This is the National Commission for UNESCO and the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.

The organizers themselves called the forum simply: "UNESCO Seminar" ().

The logo of the international organization appeared on the official logo of the event.

The National Commission for UNESCO has been active in Belarus since 1956.

At the moment, its head is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Makei.

This is a Belarusian organization.

But the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education is an international organization.

According to the information posted on the website, it was formed at the general session of UNESCO in 1997, the institute is a structural division of UNESCO.

The organization's office is in Moscow, and it is headed by Chinese scientist Tao Zhan.

Svoboda made a request to the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education to find out why this organization decided to support the seminar in Minsk, but has not yet received an answer.

It is noteworthy that in April 2022, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, liquidated by the Belarusian authorities, received the Guillermo Kahn Award from UNESCO for its contribution to press freedom.

"By awarding the BAJ Award, we support all journalists around the world who criticize, oppose and expose authoritarian politicians and regimes, convey true information and promote freedom of expression," said Alfred Lela, chairman of the international jury of the award.

Svoboda asked the representatives of BAJ, which continues its work in exile, whether they had heard anything about the event under the auspices of UNESCO and whether they had not received an invitation to take part in the forum, but they answered that they were hearing about the seminar for the first time.

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