"Godbatka" Became Number One Hit in Belarus

More than 2 million in people Belarus watched a documentary about Alexander Lukashenko “Godbatka”, presidential candidate from the United Civil Party Jaroslav Romanchuk said in an interview with the Echo Moskvy radio station. According to the politician "Godbatka" became number one hit in Belarus.

"About 200 thousand people have downloaded this movie. I think that the audience exceeds two million. So, when it is said that the movie was targeted only on Russian audience, it is not true", Jaroslav Romanchuk said.

It should be reminded that on 4 July Russian TV aired a documentary about Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko. It was a programme that soon sent shockwaves around media and political circles. The programme itself was nothing special and the facts it revealed were hardly unfamiliar to people who follow politics. Its resonance had everything to do with timing and context, preceding as it did an agreement on Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which was due to be signed in Astana, Kazakhstan the very next day.

The documentary’s title — “Godbatka” (“The Nation’s Godfather”) — dropped some obvious hints. Few educated readers could have failed to make the connection between “Batka” (“father of the nation”, a title Lukashenko openly enjoys) and Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic masterpiece. The documentary itself matched the opening hints, presenting the leader of Belarus (considered by many Russians to be a brotherly nation) as a tyrant and criminal. He was, according to the programme, someone who not only crushes democratic opposition, but also liquidates political rivals with the assistance of professional killers from the secret services. Anyone who watched “Godbatka” could only have reached one conclusion: Lukashenko’s uninterrupted position as president since 1994 was the result of a blatant and systematic infringement of democratic norms.