«We can influence those who are there, even from here». Dmitry Semchenko – on his debut on "Belsat" with a new project

Dmitry Semchenko: — Well, this Saturday, September 5, I will make my first appearance on Belsat with my "Decoder"...

«People will be able to see the news naked – without propaganda narratives»

«Belsat»: — «Decoder» with Semchenko — is it a continuation of «Anti-Fake» that you did on ONT?

— Not at all. The name speaks for itself. "Decoder" is the deciphering of news, of what remains unnoticed, between the lines. People read the news all week, but don't always understand what's being discussed and what's actually happening. Because when certain politicians or figures say something, it doesn't mean they should be understood literally. Everything important is often hidden and coded. And that's why "Decoder" dissects the week's news, like a pathologist. And shows what's inside them.

— Will you give an example?

— I don't know the specific topics yet, as everything will happen live. But now... This week, the chairman of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee announced a subbotnik. Seemingly nothing new — a well-known Soviet invention. Previously, subbotniks were held once a year — in April. They collected tribute from people, and the state earned millions of dollars. Just like that. But in 2025, it decided to hold two more subbotniks. Unnoticed, but on them, it earned 4 times more than before. And now the regional authorities have decided to do the same. People go out and work for free. In the Gomel region — "to earn money for the repair of the Mozyr maternity hospital". But Mozyr is already a rich city, it has an oil refinery that makes good money on fuel shortages in the Russian Federation and could have allocated the sum for the maternity hospital. But no — teachers, doctors, and other public sector employees have to work. At the same time, over 2.5 billion rubles are spent on the police. This is more than on all education...

And so: I start with this subbotnik and show how it affects people. I say that at some point they will be forced to work for free not just once or twice a year, but perhaps every month. And so, little by little, people are being turned into slaves, into free labor...

— Do people today need such dissected news?

— People demand informational fast food. They want news to be like from "Fast and Delicious". But I want to create molecular informational cuisine for them. Not fast food! "Decoder" will differ from everything else offered today. Because it will be food broken down to molecules. People will be able to see this news naked — without any propaganda or other narratives. I give them this delicious food. There's not much of it, but it has everything necessary. A person can generally not follow the news during the week and not overload themselves — just watch "Decoder" on Belsat on Saturday and get full information.

Павялічыць

— How long will the program last?

— Only 15 minutes. But it's not a podcast or a digest. It's a concentrate. In 15 minutes, I fit the entire week. I connect all the news into a single chain, assemble a puzzle — and a person sees the whole picture of the week.

— As far as I know, you will also try yourself as a presenter of «Belsat Studio»?

— Yes, it's a classic. The studio is being modernized, updated. And I will host evening broadcasts on Belsat.

«Then I decided that our interests with Lukashenka coincided…»

— Dzima, you dedicated 12 years to television, 11 of them to ONT, including 6 years in the so-called presidential pool and...

— I started working in the presidential pool in 2014, after the events in Crimea and Donbas. Because at that moment, I decided that Lukashenka would not let Russia devour us. Not because he is a patriot of Belarus, but because he simply would not give up his chair at that historical moment. And I decided that our interests coincided. At that moment, when Russia's imperial appetite reawakened, it seemed to me that my place was in the pool, where I could influence historical events. And I think that was the case. I believe I did a lot there for our national foundation.

— And today, in forced emigration after three years in prison, do you continue to believe that you influenced and will influence historical events as a journalist? Are these the tasks you set for yourself?

— Yes, and even greater ones. Because now even more opportunities are opening up. Opinion leaders influence people's consciousness. And we have this chance. Yes, propaganda has been working since 2020. I believe Moscow took all the profit from 2020. Because before 2020, cars with Pahonia stickers stood near ONT. And I openly said on the TV channel that my coat of arms is Pahonia. I made programs against Russia's imperial ambitions. I said that it seized us in 1918, that Russia is imperialists. I openly made programs about the BPR, about the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. And Russian channels called me a Belarusian Russophobe and nationalist even before it became mainstream. 2014, 2015, 2018 — you can look it up online. They said, this Belarusian nationalist is again inciting hostility towards Russians. But I incited hostility not towards them, but towards imperial ambitions. And I continue to do so. Nothing has changed for me.

— But in one interview you said that the future of Belarus is made by those who are there. You are here...

— Yes, but we can influence those who are there, even from here.

— Are you sure they will hear you?

— I'm sure they will hear me. I receive a lot of feedback. People write to me. They are currently trying to save their lives and freedom, so they don't express their thoughts publicly. But they have these thoughts, and they know with whom they can share them. Many people write to me, it was like this even before my imprisonment. They write in private messages, give feedback. And there are many such people.

«I'd rather wear a prisoner's uniform than take this shame to my heart»

— And your former colleagues? Do you expect feedback from them after you «appear» on Belsat?

— I don't think about it. Because those who really worked closely with me knew what I was about. They knew about my attitude towards Russia and why I worked in the pool. When Marat Markau came to ONT, they introduced me to him like this: "Dmitry, a Belarusian nationalist". Although I didn't call myself so loudly — a nationalist. Rather, a nationally oriented person or a patriot, although this word has already been devalued by all sorts of "yabats".

But I was open and honest about it. And colleagues knew about my attitude towards the Belarusian language, history, and culture. On Wednesdays, we were already broadcasting in Belarusian, and we translated the morning broadcast into Belarusian, I even did presidential stories in Belarusian at that time... And, naturally, everyone knew about my attitude towards the events of 2020. And none of my subordinates in the pool, not a single person I worked with, did anything against me. And I don't understand this pathology and illness of Azaronak, who almost every week made programs about me and wrote that "Semchenko must be imprisoned"...

Павялічыць

— And Semchenko was imprisoned in 2022. I was struck by a story you told earlier. You were already in «Wolf's Dens», and to the zone, as part of a television crew that was supposed to film a story about political prisoners, your former cameraman arrived, with whom you had shared many experiences. You meet gazes...

— The chief operative forced me to give an interview. He threatened me with Article 411, blackmailed me with my family, threw me into SHIZO... And then a film crew arrived, specifically from ONT. We were standing in the corridor with another journalist from an independent publication. And they walk — two cameramen and the head of the film crew. I can no longer call them journalists, because this is not journalism, this is already work for a repressive system. So — they walk... And I, after another SHIZO, was so thin, emaciated, with sunken cheeks. Because you come out of SHIZO like from Auschwitz. I stand in this uniform, thin and bald. And they — to each other: "Is that Dzima?" — "That's him, that's Dzima..."

And I then said to the journalist who stood with me: "Listen, they are walking down the corridor and thinking that I made a bad choice, that I made a mistake. But if I, who went through these abuses and sufferings and lost everything, were offered: 'Come on, take off this prisoner's uniform, take a microphone and interview political prisoners,' I would refuse. I'd rather stay in a prisoner's uniform than take this shame to my heart."

— Was there an interview?

— No, they didn't come closer, didn't dare. They recorded other political prisoners — not me. And I then thought that we were already in different universes. They chose their path, I chose mine...

With two suitcases, two months after my release, I came to emigration. And I think I made the right choice.

«I was the dictator's PR manager…»

— How do you find the Belsat atmosphere? Is it different from what it was there, at ONT?

— The vibe is the same. Television is television. This television magic — I always feel it. And if you like it, no stress will stop you. If it's yours, you rise every morning, like a phoenix, from the ashes.

— You look very good. If I didn't know for sure that you spent three years behind bars and in the zone, I wouldn't believe it. Are there no health problems?

— No, although 14 teeth had to be treated. I kept myself in shape there, tried to exercise physically every day, wherever I was, even in SHIZO. It hardened me. Political prisoners were forbidden to lift weights, to train in the zone, but were allowed to participate in competitions. So, I once won in deadlifting. I lifted an 80-kilogram barbell and lifted more than anyone else. I even got into the prison newspaper "Trudovoy Put" (Labor Path) as a winner — they didn't check there that I was "political" and let it pass. As for my psyche, the zone still appears in my dreams. As if you fall back in there and can't get out...

— Do you have to justify yourself to colleagues with whom, not so long ago, you were on opposite sides of the barricades?

— You know, I never thought I was on the other side. I never had such a threshold, that we are doing different things. I had a specific purpose — I work for the national idea. I respected Belsat, Nasha Niva, because people there also work for the national foundation. Nasha Niva, for example, raised the topic of Cossacks and Orthodox activists who took children to camps — and I picked up that flag and carried it further. And when there was no time to make material about the "Russkiy Mir" (Russian World) Elizaveta Monastery, I called Lukashuk on "Euroradio" and shared information on this topic...

Павялічыць

— But the presidential pool is like a stigma. What will you say to people who still consider you a «propagandist» and so on?

— Let them think so, it's their opinion. You know, we talked about this back in 2020 with colleagues with whom I participated in the strike at ONT. We refused to make stories. They gave me a story about "Belgazprombank" to do, and I did it in such a way that they really didn't like it. I immediately said that I would not name a single surname in the story, because people's guilt had not been proven. I said at meetings: "Why are you lying, why are you doing this?" And they: "Well, we're not forcing you to make these stories". I said: "I work here, and later people will say you're scum, you worked there, no one will bother to understand". That's what happened later...

But at that moment, there, I defended the Belarusian national foundation. And for me, nothing has changed. I defend it now and here, on Belsat. I do the same thing I did there.

So, you know, when they tell me "You worked there — you're scum," I don't even waste time trying to prove anything. I won't prove anything to anyone. And my main judge is myself. I am a perfectionist and a very self-critical person, who will flog and accuse myself much more than any stranger. I consume myself and don't sleep at night over trifles, over thoughts that I should have done things differently. But you can't do that anymore — you can't go back to the past...

— «I'm not wearing a white coat, I'm also guilty before all people». Your words.

— Yes. Guilty of not preventing what happened. I couldn't, although I called at meetings for something to be done, for some dialogue with people to begin... Maybe I took too much upon myself, thinking I could influence the situation, and as a result, I essentially threw myself on this embrasure? I understood what was going to happen, but I couldn't change it. Because, it turns out, no matter how much I said there that I worked for the national idea, I also worked for Lukashenka. I worked on his image, whitewashed him, edited his phrases, cleaned them up, something else. I was, in essence, the dictator's PR manager. And this is my guilt...

But if someone still says that I should be judged, I will remind you: I have already been judged six times in Belarus since 2020. So, there's no need to scare me with this. I'm not afraid of anything anymore. "GUBASIKs" choked and beat me when they forced me to apologize on camera. I said that I didn't want to apologize to them, because I had made my choice. And, you see, this choice sustains me. My goal was to build the Belarusian foundation. It has remained. Nothing has changed. I do and will continue to do this work. Now — on Belsat.

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