Belarusian journalist and political observer Ihar Illiashcommented on the attempt of the General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus to recognize the white-red-white symbols as extremist. Ihar Illiash considers the ban on the white-red-white flag to be a logical step "on the path of turning an authoritarian dictatorship into a totalitarian one." But, in his opinion, the effectiveness of this will be zero. He recalled that "de facto, a white-red-white flag was already banned up to the schizophrenic absolute in the last six months." "The extermination of ribbons and cutting white-red-white ice, the pursuit for the seditious color of trousers, an umbrella or white-red-white-marshmallows ... Well, how can it be more? Recognizing the national flag as extremist will only simplify bureaucratic procedures for the repressive machine. Now the police and judges will not have to make impossible things (to qualify the marshmallow as a mass protest), but it will be possible to prosecute dissidents for distributing extremist products immediately. That's all," the political observer believes.