Yury Koziyatko

Yury Koziyatko (, , born April 24, 1964, in Brest, Belarus) is a Belarusian politician, TV presenter and blogger.

Biography Early years and education Yury Koziyatko born on April 24, 1964, in Brest. He graduated from the Kurgan Higher Military-Political Aviation School in Kurgan, Russia. During his service at the Soviet Army, he worked as a military journalist in a newspaper of the Soviet Pacific Fleet and as a TV host in Vladivostok, Russia.

Career

Belarusian Association of Journalists refers to Koziyatko as 'the third main propagandist in Belarus' after and Alexander Zimovsky.

In 2003, he became Chairman at the state-owned TV channel ONT. In 2004, he released a 12-series documentary 'Noveyshaya Istoriya' ('Recent History') where he supported and justified all Lukashenko's actions. The film enjoyed state support and was shown at screenings organised by ideological state officials, which were compulsory for employees of state owned enterprises to attend.

In February 2018, he was dismissed from Capital TV and appointed deputy director of the "Minsk-Novosti" agency. From "Minsk-Novosti", Koziyatko was dismissed in 2018.

Accusations, EU sanctions In 2011, after the wave of repressions that followed the 2010 presidential election, Yury Koziyatko and several other top managers and employees of major state media became subject to an EU travel ban and asset freeze as part of a sanctions list of 208 individuals responsible for political repressions, electoral fraud and propaganda in Belarus. The sanctions were lifted in 2016.

According to the EU Council's decision, Koziyatko's TV show was described as "an instrument of state propaganda which supports and justifies the repression of the democratic opposition and of civil society. Democratic opposition and civil society are systematically highlighted in a negative and derogatory way using falsified information. He was particularly active in this regard after the crackdown on peaceful demonstrations on 19 December 2010 and on subsequent protests.