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BelTA noted that the statement criticizing the elections in Belarus had vanished from the U.S. State Department’s website but did not explain why
The WTF team inspected the archive under the link and found Blinken's speech there using search keyword 'Belarus'.
The U.S. State Department removed the statement from its website, BelTA reported. The Weekly Top Fake team found out why the news agency jumped to conclusions.
“The 2025 presidential election in Belarus cannot be free or fair because of a ‘repressive environment’ in the country,” now former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on January 17 in a statement. The full transcript of his speech was published on the U.S. State Department’s website. A week later, BelTA reported that it had been removed.
"The U.S. State Department has removed former Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement denouncing the presidential elections in Belarus from its official website. The page where the statement was previously published now displays the message: 'We apologize for the inconvenience...' The statement itself has been deleted."
At the time of the article’s publication, Blinken’s speech was indeed no longer accessible on the State Department’s website. However, a note at the bottom of the now empty page explains: "We create an archive of the State.gov website at the end of each presidential administration. This has been a standard practice since the end of the Clinton Administration in 2001. If the content you’re looking for is from a prior administration, you can search our archive sites." Under this disclaimer, there is a link to the archive.
The WTF team inspected the archive under the link and found Blinken's speech there using search keyword 'Belarus'. With the arrival of the new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who assumed office on January 21, the State Department's website publishes news about the current administration.
