'Ukrainian' expert from Belarus state TV lives in Russia

Since the end of September, the state TV channel Belarus 1 has been showing interviews with "Ukrainian political scientist" Yury Kot, who is still unknown to the Belarusian public. His strong point is criticism of Lukashenka's opponents.

"People are outraged that the protesters usurped the very concept of the Belarusian people and say that they are the people. But what about the rest? But what about those people who do not agree with you, are they not the people? Or maybe they are just the lowest caste of this people?" Kot says in the morning news on Belarus 1. "It smells of pure fascism, there is a division of people into supermen and non-people".

"You must understand that all these guys who today demand rights, freedoms and try to present themselves in white clothes, with flower, like good-natured people, are in fact, ardent tyrants who are ready to break the law as they see fit, only to achieve their result," Kot also said on the evening air of the Belarusian state TV.

We took a closer look at this person. It turned out that he has been living in Russia for more than 5 years and is related to publications that oppose official Kyiv. But on BT he is presented as a Ukrainian political scientist, apparently to show that Belarusian protesters are not supported in Ukraine either. But who is Yury Kot?

Educator, TV presenter, face of the lottery

Yury Kot is 44 years old. He was born in Zhytomyr, where he received two higher educations. According to the first, he is a teacher. In his student days he analyzed the translations of the works of Adam Mickiewicz into Ukrainian, after which he taught Ukrainian literature. His second education is closer to what he is doing now. Kot received a diploma at the theater institute.

Then the future "political scientist" left for Kyiv to become a TV star. He worked on different channels, even passed the casting for the anchor of "Inter". He was also the host of the show "Everything for You", where he helped lovers to make proposals before marriage. For some time he worked as the face of the TV lottery.

Traces of that period can still be found on Yury Kot's YouTube channel. Most often, he appears there as a "political expert", but from time to time there are published small videos in which he romantically looks into the sky and reads poetry.

Organizer of the Immortal Regiment

Kot went into politics during the "Revolution of Dignity" in Ukraine: the showman was the host of "Anti-Maidan" -- rallies that were held in 2013-2014 to support Viktor Yanukovych.

In the middle of the revolution, he left Ukraine and settled in Russia, where he immediately began working on the Ukraina.ru project launched by the MIA Rossiya Segodnya. References to this pro-Kremlin media and its experts constantly appear in the Belarusian media space. Especially after TV crews from the RT channel, which is also part of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA, came to work in Belarus.

Kot collaborated with another notorious portal - News Front. At the same time he became the press secretary of the "Committee for the Salvation of Ukraine", which was created in Moscow by the Ukrainian Prime Minister of the Yanukovych era, Mykola Azarov. There is information about the cooperation of Kot with several other little-known "associations" and "foundations". In 2017, the "political scientist" tried to conduct the "Immortal Regiment" rally in Ukraine.

Yury Kot is a frequent guest on Russian television. He posts pieces of programs with his participation on his YouTube channel, where about 5 thousand people follow the work of the "political scientist". He says one of his goals is to "fight against false Nazi propaganda."

Over the past couple of months, the "Ukrainian political scientist" living in Russia has been actively commenting on the Belarusian events. Here's the last post on Facebook on the “Belarusian theme”: “Tsikhanouskaya is a doll in the hands of the West. She does not go [to meetings with Western politicians. - Euroradio], but they take her there. Tsikhanouskaya  has long been reading other people's texts and fulfilling other people's desires. She seems to have been taken hostage," The Ukrainian from Russia looked and figured out everything. Case is closed.

In Wikipedia (where, perhaps, Yury Kot personally edits his own page), his regalia are listed in this order: showman, actor, TV presenter, film director, screenwriter, creator of an art holding, public figure and (attention!), Expert of the Russian TV. Now you can add Belarusian to this list.