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Famous photos of Lukashenko walking through the center of Minsk with a machine gun in his hands, accompanied by his son Nikolai, wearing a special soldier’s uniform, were first published in Pulpervogo. This source has become one of the main providers of information for foreign media, showing what Mr. Lukashenko is thinking and what he is doing during the deep political crisis in Belarus. The channel’s content is supervised by A. Lukashenko’s personal spokesperson for 36 years. Natalia Eismont is convinced by all the Belarusian journalists with whom the Meduza correspondents interacted.
“The dictatorship is already our brand,” said N. Eismont, who formulated an approach to the president’s image in 2019 in the only extensive interview he gave to the Belarusian state channel ONT as an official.
In that interview, Mr. Eismont emphasized that when you work in the presidential administration you have to think “a tone with the president”, at the same time be careful because he knows that “every word of mine and perhaps even every look of mine is examined under a microscope”.
Aliaksandr Lukashenko
The transferor of the will of the president
According to Eismont, Lukashenko “views public relations very negatively as a phenomenon, as an artificial thing.” “In this sense, there is no need to propose anything, because the life of the president is such that public relations are not needed,” explained the assistant to the president. “Few people imagine the amount of ideas that emanate from the guide.”
For many years, Lukashenko managed without a personal spokesperson. Natalija Petkevič, N. Eismont’s predecessor, left this post in 2003. – She first became the head of the presidential administration, then the first deputy, in charge of both “state ideology” and the media. The other 11-year-old spokesman for the Belarusian president simply did not hold the post.
In the administration of the head of state there has always been a press service with its own bosses, but its tasks were rather technical and organizational matters. The president met with them two or three times a year, explained a person who knew about Lukashenko’s press service work.
The need for a personal spokesperson resurfaced in 2014, when N. Petkevič finally left the civil service. She found a job at the company, married an official Belarusian representative to the UN, and is therefore able to come to New York despite the personal sanctions imposed on her by the United States.
Marriage to a millionaire
Mr. Lukashenko surprised everyone by choosing Natalia Krisanova, a Western television news anchor, known in Belarus as a pseudonym. Her career is known for the chronicle of Belarusian society. Born in Minsk, Natalia graduated from the Belarusian Academy of Arts, specializing in theater and film actress. She worked at the Minsk Musical Comedy Theater.
2006 she came to do an internship on the state television program Verslo žinios, where she met her future husband Ivan Eismont. The former captain of the Grodno militia came to work in television a little earlier: his sister, the sports television journalist Anna Eismont, invited him to the selection of the television presenter.
2010 Ivan Eismont told his colleague. A manager retrained as a police officer conducted a very modest ceremony. He read a protocol about how Mr. Eismont was forced to live together to improve housing and living conditions, and then he instructed his spouses to exchange rings.
“I always call before going to my husband’s office. After all, he’s my boss now,” Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted N. Eismont in 2014, and soon became a spokesperson. The show’s host had already become the Deputy director of the television news agency at the time and had received the Francisco Skorina Medal from Lukashenko.The couple began broadcasting a new program, Main Air, a weekly analytical informational program on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24.
At that time, the locomotive of Eismont’s common race was also not Ivan, Or Natalia, my “Meduza” correspondents to talk to colleagues. It is true that even those who knew Ms. Eismont could not give the exact reason why she held a position so close to the president.
One possible explanation was supposed to be Eismont’s friendship with Darya Shman, a young protocol officer and Lukashenko’s assistant.
The winner of beauty contests in Belarus was first noticed by D. Shmanai in the presidential environment in 2014 as an assistant to L. Petkevič. Later, D. Shman became an employee of the Presidential Protocol Service, rumors circulated about her close relations with the leader of Belarus. N. Eismont, who became a spokesperson, began posting personalities with N. Schman.
“I love you, everything is fine”
N. Eismont not only coordinated the state media, looked after the image of the president, but also prepared press reviews and speeches by the head of state. The latter are being prepared in cooperation with a group of experts and are also being reviewed by the presidential administration, Lukashenko’s spokeswoman said in an interview. According to her, it is ultimately up to Lukashenko to decide on the rhetoric. “It’s important for us to get at least close to this style,” Eismont said.
As a spokesperson, Ms. Eismont is constantly present with the Head of State, attends key meetings, and participates in various sports.
“At first, Ms. Eismont was shy or at least had such a dream, but she quickly got used to it and became a member of the president’s family,” said an interlocutor close to Lukashenko. – All her instructions were immediately followed by media leaders, ministers, and all officials in general. No one dared to ask if it was her order or Mr. Lukashenko’s. All instructions were followed as his. But a lot of executives don’t like it. “
According to an interlocutor who knew the work of the spokesman, N. Eismont seemed to have the most important task: to guarantee the good humor of the head of state. “It created an illusion for him: people love you, everything is fine. Cut to reality. Of course, he was also informed of the situation by the heads of special services, the Operational Analytical Center, but comparing the daily influence of N. Eismont, all this went to the background, said the interlocutor from Meduza – N. Eismont and Natalia Kochianova [Parlamento Atstovų tarybos pirmininkė] it distracted Lukashenko from reality, and he didn’t resist too much. Only occasionally has his political shell encouraged him to make the right decisions, but most of the time he has gone in the opposite direction from his people. “
According to a person familiar with Mr. Eismont’s work, the spokesperson was able to prevent Mr. Lukashenko’s remarks, which “deprived the Belarusian leader of suitable supporters,” from being spread through the media. For example, after coronavirus deaths were reported on social media, a joke was spread about how the president might call them dead.
Additionally, the spokesperson can influence Mr. Lukashenko by selecting articles in the article that cover him, Artiomas Šraibman said:
Natalia Eismont
Ms. Kocyanova and Ms. Eismont, along with their friend and head of the protocol service, Ms. Shman have formed a kind of safe space around the president, according to a source close to the Belarusian opposition coordination council. “He was no longer a young man, tired of routine problems, convinced of his political genius and the correctness of all his decisions, he became increasingly detached from reality. In addition, it was also broadcast outside, ”said the Meduza interlocutor. – The image of a grandfather collecting watermelons surrounded by young beauties was increasingly at odds with reality. This sultanism quickly shattered utopian hopes of a burgeoning authoritarianism with a burgeoning IT industry, investment, and an independent foreign policy with many vectors. “
According to the interviewee, the final failure was the “cynical sincerity” of A. Lukšenko, especially during the coronavirus pandemic: constant statements that dying people are to blame, that they are “obese” or “old”. “The current image of a man with a machine gun in a helicopter is already an apotheosis,” said the interlocutor.
Eismont’s work is outrageous even to the president’s youngest son, Nikolai, as Lukashenko has repeatedly said in public. “This is my main opposition. <...> When we watch the news in front of the school, he inspects and immediately criticizes the spokesperson: “What does it show about you?” That is the hardest part to communicate. Lukashenko told Echo Moskvy radio. And two years ago, Lukashenko had called Eismont “the son’s greatest enemy”: “Because he is photographing the president’s son.” He’s very angry about it and sometimes I even worry about it. “
A few years ago, there was a “serious deterioration of the image of Lukashenko”, a spokesman for the Coordination Council of my opposition, who left the team of Viktor Babarik, Anton Rodnenkov: “A smart and experienced politician being a ‘dictator’.
In recent years, Belarusian society has changed dramatically, and Lukashenko’s backwardness is becoming increasingly apparent. For him, the iPhone is a roof, it is difficult for him to figure out what social websites and messaging applications are “and etc. wave.
Even the strike by Belarusian radio and television workers, outraged by the behavior of members of the power structures in the protests in Minsk, did not lead Eismont to adjust its uncompromising response to opposition criticism. The dissatisfied radio and television workers left the meeting with N. Eismont and N. Kočianova, frustrated. Also, judging from the posts after the meeting, Ms. Kočianova was the only one who tried to choose words and persuade people to keep working at the previous pace.
Eismont did not respond to the Meduza correspondent’s request for comment.
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