Alexander Lukashenko’s interview with Time magazine sparked huge interest both online and in international media, said “Main Broadcast” host Maksim Uglyanitsa.
“The president of Belarus’ interview with Time is breaking all records. The search term ‘Alexander Lukashenko’ is once again among the most popular. Global news agencies are full of striking quotes on pressing issues,” the host said August 10 on the state-run First Information channel. Among those agencies, he added, was Reuters, and the program later showed a screenshot of its coverage.
The WTF team checked both claims — about the interview’s popularity among internet users and the quoting of Lukashenko’s remarks in global media.
In Belarus, the number of searches for Lukashenko’s name did rise on August 8, the day the interview was published, and the following day. That’s according to Google Trends, which tracks interest in specific queries or topics. But the increase was modest. By August 10, searches had already declined. Queries about Max Korzh’s concert in Warsaw, tennis player Aryna Sabalenka’s match, and Builder’s Day outpaced it.
In Russia, “Lukashenko” was searched less often than in Belarus. Russians were more interested in the holiday and Putin’s talks with Trump in Alaska. Among English-language searches in the United States, Lukashenko didn’t appear at all. The same trend held true elsewhere in the world. For comparison, the signing of an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan drew more attention. Overall, on August 8, Lukashenko’s name was googled more in Russian than in English worldwide.
Russian and Chinese media did take note of the interview. For example, a Chinese news agency quoted Lukashenko’s remarks about China. As for the international news agency Reuters: the article whose screenshot was shown on air was about a phone call between Lukashenko and Putin, not the Time interview. The interview wasn’t mentioned at all. But WTF reporters found another Reuters piece tied to the Time interview. Its headline read: “Veteran Belarus leader Lukashenko hints this could be his last term.” That was the main focus of the article. The authors also noted Lukashenko’s comments about a successor and his statement that he is not grooming his son Nikolai for the role.
Other international outlets covered the two-hour interview in a similar way: Al Jazeera, Belgian newspaper Le Soir, and Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported on Lukashenko’s remarks about plans for another presidential term and his son Nikolai as a possible successor.
Only Poland’s state broadcaster TVP went beyond the election angle to focus on illegal migration. Its report quoted Lukashenko as saying Belarus is the main transit route into Western Europe for migrants and that he has no intention of shielding anyone from them.