Belarus Service
Radio Svaboda overcomes significant censorship and pervasive disinformation to provide audiences in Belarus with accurate and independent reporting.
Website page views
(2024)
Facebook video views
(2024)
Instagram video views
(2024)
YouTube video views
(2024)
About the Service
RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda, was established in 1954 to reach Belarusian audiences behind the Iron Curtain.
Radio Svaboda reports news from Prague and Vilnius to Belarusians living in a closed society.
According to a 2024 survey conducted in Belarus, Radio Svaboda is reaching 7.4% of the adult population weekly.
The Service’s podcast The Belag Archipelago covers Belarus’ descent into a prison state under Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s rule and its journalists frequently highlight the plight of political prisoners in Belarus.
The Service’s narrative podcast Lukashenka’s Lackeys is a groundbreaking six-part visualized miniseries capturing the brutal crackdown on the 2020 protests from the perspective of security forces.
Radio Svaboda was the first to uncover the emergence of a military camp in Belarus for Russian Wagner mercenaries and its subsequent dismantling.
Reaching Audiences
Media Climate
Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index ranks Belarus 167th of 180 countries.
Radio Svaboda journalists Ihar Losik and Andrey Kuznechyk are unjustly imprisoned on fabricated charges by Lukashenka’s regime, which seeks to silence independent journalism.
In August 2020, Radio Svaboda websites were blocked. In July 2021, Radio Svaboda’s Minsk bureau was raided and sealed.
In December 2021, Radio Svaboda was designated an “extremist organization” by Belarus’ Interior Ministry, criminalizing the reporting, distribution, and consumption of RFE/RL content.
In July 2024, Yury Drakakhrust, a journalist and analyst for the Belarus Service based in Prague, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by Belarusian authorities on false charges.
Latest Updates
RFE/RL’s Belarus Service Ranked #1 in Journalism Standards
RFE/RL’s Radio Svaboda recognized by the Belarus Press Club for outstanding reporting despite challenging media landscape.
RFE/RL Condemns Sham Trial of Azerbaijani Journalist
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) rejects the spurious charges facing Farid Mehralizada and calls on the Azerbaijani government to release him immediately.
European Court of Human Rights Issues Landmark Ruling in Favor of RFE/RL Against Russia
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) welcomes today’s landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Russia’s “foreign agent” laws violate the right to freedom of expression.
Support Independent Journalism
Join us in advocating for press freedom and supporting RFE/RL journalists who have been unjustly imprisoned.