Latvian teenager who interviewed Lukashenko in Vitebsk stays in Belarus

MINSK, 27 July – Ilya Karoza from Latvia who made an interview with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko during the International Arts Festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk stayed in Belarus, Latvian blogger Gloria Grevtsova said on TikTok, informs.

“The children's team will be dismissed. The lease agreement has already been terminated. The teenage boy who interviewed Lukashenko has stayed in Belarus. His mother is also going there. The team will cease its work. More than that, it turned out that the team did not have a license at all. The team almost illegally worked there. The Ministry of Education and Science and the minister, where were you? Why didn't you see it? And if the team should not have traveled to Belarus, then why didn't the minister of foreign affairs do anything about it?” Gloria Grevtsova said.

A reminder, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko gave a brief interview to journalists from the Riga Children's Academy of Radio and Television before the opening ceremony of the International Arts Festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk. After that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Security Service of Latvia started an inquiry into the trip of the young journalists to Belarus. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics went even further saying that the academy might be closed. The State Security Service of Latvia opened a treason probe against the children and their teachers.