Zvyazda Publishing House

The Zvyazda Publishing House is a state editorial and publishing institution formed in autumn 2012 through the consolidation of the Literature and Art Publishing House with the editorial institution publishing Zvyazda. The newspaper’s first issue appeared on 9 August 1917 as an organ of the Minsk Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks). It is a state socio-political newspaper published in Belarusian five times a week. The publishing house’s current advertising information records a circulation of 14,804.

Media assets

Newspapers: Zvyazda and the weekly Litaratura i Mastactva

Magazines: Alesya, Rodnaya Pryroda and Belarus

Online: zviazda.by, registered as a network publication

Publishing: a book-publishing operation

The current portfolio therefore contains five periodicals and one named network publication, alongside book publishing. Alexandra Antselevich is Editor-in-Chief of Alesya, Alexandrina Parshyna of Rodnaya Pryroda, Alexey Charota of Litaratura i Mastactva, and Nikolai Litvinov of Belarus.

Ownership and governance

The publishing house is a state editorial and publishing institution subordinate to the Ministry of Information, which lists it among its subordinate organisations.

The founding arrangements differ by title. Zvyazda is founded jointly by the Council of Ministers, the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic. Litaratura i Mastactva is founded by the Ministry of Information, the Union of Writers of Belarus and the Zvyazda Publishing House. Alesya is founded by the Ministry of Information and the Belarusian Union of Women, while Rodnaya Pryroda is founded by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.

On 2 December 2024 President Lukashenko gave consent to the appointment of Olga Anufrieva as Director–Editor-in-Chief. On 11 June 2026 he appointed her Director–Editor-in-Chief of the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House.

Zvyazda’s current leadership page no longer names Anufrieva and lists no Director–Editor-in-Chief, beginning instead with First Deputy Director Alena Liaukovich. State Media Monitor could not identify a successor and does not infer that Liaukovich is acting director.

Anufrieva’s direct move from one major state publishing house to another, following the earlier leadership of Zvyazda by former Information Minister Aliaksandr Karlyukevich, illustrates the circulation of senior personnel within Belarus’s state media and administrative system.

Source of funding and budget

The publishing house receives state financial support and also earns income from subscriptions, advertising and book publishing. Its current website publishes subscription prices and advertising tariffs, establishing that commercial revenue channels exist.

Editorial independence

The institutional remit itself supports the editorial finding. The publishing house describes Zvyazda as the official organ of the Government and Parliament, while the presidential portal says its priorities include comprehensive coverage of state policy and the activities of the President and Government. These are express institutional functions, not conclusions inferred solely from content.

Content analysis conducted for State Media Monitor in 2024 found a distinctly propagandistic character, with no sign of independent oversight or checks on editorial direction.

Articles 4 to 7 of Belarus’s Law on Mass Media, Law No. 427-Z of 17 July 2008, list diversity of opinion and free expression among the principles governing the media and prohibit censorship, monopolisation, demands for prior approval, interference in the professional autonomy of an editorial entity and coercion of journalists to publish or withhold information.

Those provisions provide no structural independence here. State Media Monitor identified no independent mechanism capable of applying them against the founding institutions or against management whose appointment is subject to presidential consent.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published Zvyazda policy governing generative artificial intelligence, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure, and could not establish the extent of adoption in production.

State Media Monitor did not establish whether Belarus has adopted a statutory framework requiring disclosure of AI-generated content.

Classification rationale

Zvyazda remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is state-established and state-governed. The publishing house is a state editorial and publishing institution subordinate to the Ministry of Information. Its flagship newspaper is founded jointly by the Council of Ministers, the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic, and its other titles are founded by ministries and state-linked associations. The senior appointment is subject to presidential consent. No independent supervisory board or protected appointment procedure was identified.

It is state-financed. The publishing house and its publications receive direct state support and also generate subscription, advertising and publishing income.

Its editorial agenda is directed by the state. The publishing house describes Zvyazda as the official organ of the Government and Parliament, and the presidential portal lists comprehensive coverage of state policy and presidential and government activity among its priorities. Content analysis conducted in 2024 found a distinctly propagandistic character. Articles 4 to 7 of the Law on Mass Media contain formal protections unsupported by independent governance or enforcement.

September 2026