The evolution of the image of the Republic of Belarus in West European mass media in 1991-2015

The creation of an attractive image of a country is an organic part of the foreign policy strategy of any state. Creating a positive image of a country in the international arena allows the state to conduct an active foreign policy, to attract investment and tourism flows to a country, to raise its prestige in the world. The process of a country's positive image constructing is especially important for states that have recently emerged on the international arena. The research is focused on the evolution of the image of the Republic of Belarus in West European mass media during the period from 1991 to 2015. The author analyzes changes in the perception of the Republic of Belarus in western countries in publications in the mass media of Great Britain (The Telegraph, The Guardian), Germany (Handelsblatt, Deutsche Welle) and France (Le Monde, Le Figaro, Liberation). The main methods of research were methods of context analysis and of comparative studies. The need to create a positive and attractive image of the Republic of Belarus was not realized on the state level for a long time. In fact, the image of country was formed spontaneously from 1991 to 2006. As a result, nowadays the Republic of Belarus has an indecipherable and unidentified image on the international arena (the country is often described as "terra incognita" and "understanding Belarus"). The study of the image of the Republic of Belarus in mass media of western countries has scientific significance in the context of the modern geopolitical situation (especially in the context of the current Minsk peace talks and the role of the Republic of Belarus and its president in this process). The analysis showed that Russia's and West European mass media draw the image of the Republic of Belarus differently. For example, Russia's mass media focus on the foreign policy of Belarus and on problems in the Russian-Belarus relations. In contrast, West European mass media concentrate on the domestic problems in Belarus (such as human rights violation, opposition movement repressions, mass falsification causes during the presidential elections, changes in the Constitution and others). Russia's mass media draw the image of Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, as a housewifely man, sometimes as a plowboy. West European mass media draw the image of Lukashenko with a lot of negative cliches: "the last dictator of Europe", "an authoritarian leader", "a man with an iron first", etc. A polar image of Lukashenko had been formed in Russia's and Western Europe's mass media during the period, but Lukashenko plays the leading role in the creation and transformation of the image of the Republic of Belarus. The main idea of the article is that the image of the Republic of Belarus in West European mass media changed during the period from 1991 to 2015. Some years ago, after the USSR came to an end, the Republic of Belarus was perceived as an ex-soviet territory that stood behind the back of the Kremlin. However, the emergence of pro-European movements, the strengthening of the Belarus-European ties in the frameworks of the Eastern Partnership program and the failure of the Russian-Belarus Union State influenced the situation: the image of the Republic of Belarus changed and Belarus is perceived as a European country.

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