Belarus Segodnya

What is Belarus Segodnya?

Belarus Segodnya, Беларусь сегодня, is a publishing house. The State Media Monitor, published by the Media and Journalism Research Center, in an entry dated August 2025, describes Sovetskaya Belorussiya, known in Belarusian as Belarus Segodnya, as the largest Russian-language daily newspaper in Belarus. That is the monitor's description.^[2] The same entry lists the house's titles as Sovetskaya Belorussiya, Respublika, Narodnya Gazeta, Selskaya Gazeta and Znamya Yunosti, the radio station Alfa Radio and the website sb.by.^[2]

The footer of sb.by reads: “© Беларусь Сегодня, 1998 — 2026. Все права принадлежат издательскому дому «Беларусь сегодня»”.^[1] The belarus.by portal, headed “Official Website of the Republic of Belarus” and listed by BelTA among its own resources, names “the Belarus Segodnya publishing house” among “The largest national media outlets”.^[3][6]

What does Belarus Segodnya cover?

Sport sits on a path of the site, sb.by/sport. When retrieved on 25 September 2026, the section carried football, hockey, tennis, biathlon, handball and Formula 1.^[1]

Its items of 24 and 25 September 2026 included a Belarusian kickboxer's win in a tournament final in Japan, the opening game of the Belarusian basketball championship, a defeat of Belarus's youth football team by Belgium in European Championship qualifying, and several games in the Belarusian hockey championships.^[1] Those are two days' items.

Its hockey reporting follows both leagues in which Belarusian clubs play. On 24 September 2026 it headlined “Молодечненское «Динамо» победило гродненский «Неман» в игре хоккейной экстралиги” and “Минское «Динамо» уступило московским одноклубникам в поединке чемпионата Континентальной хоккейной лиги”; on 25 September it previewed the season under the headline “Смоленский «Славутич» — один из фаворитов чемпионата Беларуси по хоккею”. It also runs a signed column, “Авторская рубрика Руслана Васильева”, which on 25 September dealt with football.^[1]

Its international items on the same days included UEFA Nations League results and a world championship in sports acrobatics in Italy, in which, by its report, Belarusian athletes reached five finals on the first day. It also reported “Волейболисты «Столицы» победили во всех матчах в утешительном раунде Кубка России”.^[1]

How large is Belarus Segodnya's audience?

No audited readership or web-audience figure for the house, its newspaper or sb.by was retrieved, and the State Media Monitor's entry gives no circulation figure.^[2] The one audience measurement retrieved for Belarus, published by ЗАО «МедиаИзмеритель», covers television channels and not newspapers or websites.

The President's portal counts “840 printed mass media (349 newspapers, 480 magazines, 11 bulletins), including 375 state-run media outlets and 465 private media outlets”, with the date printed as “As of 1 April 20256”. It names none of them.^[4]

Since when has Belarus Segodnya existed?

The State Media Monitor states: “With a history stretching back to 1927, it has long been the flagship print organ of the government.”^[2] That is the monitor's account of the newspaper's history; no founding date was retrieved from the publisher, whose corporate site could not be retrieved.

The copyright notice on sb.by runs from 1998.^[1] That is a notice for the website, not a founding date for the newspaper.

Why does Belarus Segodnya matter in Belarus's sport?

It publishes a daily newspaper that the State Media Monitor describes as the largest Russian-language daily in Belarus, and the belarus.by portal names the publishing house among the largest national media outlets.^[2][3] Its sport section covers the domestic hockey, football and basketball championships.^[1]

Ownership. The State Media Monitor classifies it as “State-Controlled (SC)”. It states: “The publishing house Belarus Segodnya is wholly owned and managed by the Presidential Administration of Belarus, which directly appoints the newspaper's senior editorial and managerial staff”, and: “The newspaper's financial lifeline is drawn primarily from allocations in the state budget.”^[2] Those statements are from its entry dated August 2025.

Editorship and editorial line. The same entry states: “Dzmitry Zhuk has served as Editor-in-Chief of Belarus Segodnya since 2018, following the long tenure of Pavel Yakubovich.” It records that he previously headed BelTA. It states: “Its editorial line is tightly scripted by the Presidential Administration, leaving little to no room for journalistic autonomy.” And it states: “No statutory framework or independent oversight mechanism exists in Belarus that could safeguard editorial independence at Belarus Segodnya.”^[2] Those are the State Media Monitor's characterisations.

A second monitoring body. RSF's 2026 entry for Belarus, which ranks the country 165th of 180, states in its legal framework section: “The Belarusian authorities have changed laws to give a legal veneer to attacks on press freedom.”^[5] RSF's entry does not name this publisher; its words concern the Belarusian media as a whole.