Press releases

23 Dec 2025

BelTA turns 107

MINSK, 23 December (BelTA) - Today marks the 107^th anniversary of the founding of the Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA).

The agency’s history began on 23 December 1918, with the opening of the Belarusian Bureau of the Russian Telegraph Agency under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in Minsk. In the following years, it was renamed several times until it received its current name, the Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA), on 7 March 1931.

Until 1991, all of BelTA’s activities were directed from Moscow. TASS provided teletype machines on lease; BelTA received news from TASS and sent information about life in the republic back to TASS, which also landed on the desks of the Soviet leadership.

Today, BelTA and TASS are equal partners. BelTA has concluded more than 30 partnership agreements with leading global news agencies, including the largest agencies from CIS countries, China’s Xinhua, Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency, Latin America’s Prensa Latina, and others.

The most important focus of BelTA’s work has been, and remains, the rapid distribution of reliable information about life in the country. While just 30-40 years ago, BelTA’s news wire was inaccessible to the general public, existing only for newspapers, television, and radio, today its information is available to a wide audience both domestically and abroad. Millions of people can access it directly on the BelTA internet portal, belta.by, which has seven language versions (news is published in Belarusian, Russian, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Polish), as well as through social networks and a Telegram channel.

By many metrics, BelTA leads the Belarusian media landscape. Notably, BelTA is a leader among state media on YouTube - the agency’s channel has over 2.2 million subscribers.

In recent years, the agency has been actively developing its video division. Programs on the BelTA YouTube channel, such as On Point, The President’s Week, and Faces of Belarus have become signature brands. Each project is distinct in its format, presentation, and relevance of topics. Most videos are accompanied by subtitles in foreign languages (English and German).

In 2024, BelTA, in partnership with leading Belarusian media outlets, launched the multimedia portal VIDEOBEL.BY. The site aggregates all major socio-political programs from leading Belarusian broadcasters and media, including Belarus 1, ONT, STV, BelTA, MIR, SB. Belarus Segodnya, and First News Channel.

BelTA operates the largest network of photojournalists in Belarus and maintains one of the country’s most extensive archival collections. The photo archive contains 47,000 negatives and hundreds of thousands of digital photographs. The photo feed is updated annually with tens of thousands of new images.

Among its assets, BelTA boasts a modern press center, a video studio, a department for internet projects and website development, its own publishing center, the weekly newspaper 7 Days, the Information Bulletin of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the monthly magazine Belaruskaya Dumka, and the quarterly magazine Economy of Belarus.

The agency develops thematic billboards and organizes several photo exhibitions each year. This year, the Belarusian Telegraph Agency has held large-scale exhibitions such as Sovereign Belarus, Destinies Folded in Triangle, Belarusian People’s Congress: A History of People’s Rule, Victory Lives in Memory, Woman. War. Victory (in partnership with the Belarusian Union of Women), and, ahead of the winter holidays, The Magic Lights of the New Year. The agency’s exhibitions are displayed in various cities across Belarus and abroad.

Since 2009, the agency has been responsible for maintaining the official website of the Republic of Belarus, belarus.by. The website contributes to countering fakes and stereotypes created by those who have never been to Belarus. The platform operates in Russian, English, Belarusian, and Chinese.

For many years, BelTA has stood as a 100% verified source of information about Belarus, the activities of its president and government, and everything that happens in the country. The agency keeps pace with the times while adhering to its core principles: speed and reliability.