Slava Ukraini !!
Elements of a new Iron Curtain continue to appear along Belarus’s border with the European Union. And as they do, officials in the Baltic states and Poland are increasingly concerned that there could be more to the escalating migrant crisis on the EU’s eastern frontier than meets the eye. The Polish parliament is considering legislation to spend more than USD
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The Zapad (West)-2021 military exercise did not just put Russian weapons on display but also Russian disinformation and propaganda. It was the latest iteration in a series of military exercises by mainly Russian and Belarussian forces in Russia’s Western Military District that takes place every four years. Zapad-2021’s active phase, between 10 and 16 September, was preceded by seven months
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By Brian Whitmore Shots were fired at the Belarusian-Polish border last week. Just let that sink in for a moment. Anna Michalska, a spokeswoman for the Polish Border Guards, said Belarusian forces fired shots across the European Union’s eastern border on October 7. She added that nobody was injured and stated that the shots were “probably” blanks. Blanks or not,
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Brian Whitmore When Alyaksandr Lukashanka’s autocratic regime effectively hijacked a Ryanair Flight in May 2021 before forcing it to land in Minsk and kidnapping two of its passengers, the international consequences were swift. The European Union banned Belarusian airlines from its airspace and airports, while also barring European carriers from flying over Belarusian airspace. Meanwhile, the United States banned the
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Lukashenko is accused of involvement in mass tortures and repressions The MEPs are preparing to increase pressure for an international trial of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who is accused of involvement in mass torture and repression as DW reported. “Members of the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg are poised to demand international prosecution against the disputed president of Belarus
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UkraineAlert by Vitaliy Sych I recently welcomed a group of colleagues from Belarus to the editorial offices of NV magazine in Kyiv. They had all been forced to leave their country over the past year since Alyaksandr Lukashenka launched an unprecedented campaign of repression in response to mass protests over the flawed August 2020 Belarusian presidential election. Their visit made
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UkraineAlert by Brian Whitmore On the sidelines of February 2015 Minsk peace talks seeking to establish a ceasefire in Ukraine’s Donbas region, a live microphone picked up a conversation between Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the then Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko. The two were discussing Vladimir Putin. “He’s playing a dishonest and dirty game,” Poroshenko said of the Kremlin leader,
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MINSK, 27 September (BelTA) – Close attention should be paid to the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko gave the relevant instructions as he received a report on the situation at the state border on 27 September, BelTA has learned. Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “Close attention should be paid to the Ukrainian section, to what we are going to do there.
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According to UN Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, the behavior of the Belarusian authorities suggests that restrictions on human rights and freedoms in the country are aimed at suppressing criticism The human rights situation in Belarus continued to deteriorate in 2021. This statement was made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet at the 48th session of the Human
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UkraineAlert by Brian Whitmore There is a spectre haunting Belarus. It’s not a brutal autocrat who is oppressing his own people, flouting international law, and menacing the country’s neighbors. Nor is it Belarus’s international isolation or the country’s rapidly collapsing economy. At least not if you read the Russian media. According to a growing number of pro-Kremlin commentators, the spectre
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Vitaly Sych Chief Editor NV There are many problems in Ukraine, but in less than 20 years Ukraine has learned to walk. Belarus and Russia still have to learn to walk Recently in the editorial office of NV I met with colleagues from Belarus, 17 people. People who were forced to leave their country after Lukashenka launched unprecedented repression. And the main
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In November, the Secretary-General of Interpol will arrive in Poland to discuss the prevention of the use of the so-called Interpol “red cards” by Belarus and Russia to prosecute political opponents of the authorities, reports the Polish portal TVN24. The reason for the discussion was the detention of 27-year-old Belarusian Makar Malakhouski in the evening on September 12 near Piaseczno.
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By Ola Cichowlas for AFP A court in Belarus sentenced one of the country’s most prominent opposition figures, Maria Kolesnikova, to 11 years in prison on Monday after she led unprecedented protests against President Alexander Lukashenko last year. A defiant Kolesnikova smiled and made her signature heart-shaped hand symbol during the court hearing in Minsk, where lawyer and fellow opposition
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Russia will soon supply Belarus with a huge shipment of weapons and military equipment, Belarusian self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko told reporters in Minsk. According to him, we are talking about dozens of aircraft, helicopters, air defense systems and, possibly, anti-aircraft missile systems S-400. “Very soon, as I signed the order the day before yesterday, the Russian Federation will send us
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August 27 ILYA PONOMAREV Why Moscow will not abandon claims to Belarus and Ukraine Ukraine is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of its independence with anxiety. The Kremlin’s war with Russia, unleashed on both sides, has been going on for more than seven years. In fact, this is not a war for the territory of Crimea or Donbass, but for the very statehood
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MINSK, 24 August (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has sent greetings to the people of Ukraine as the country celebrates Independence Day, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian leader. “Thanks to their stalwart will, the Ukrainian people have gone a long and difficult way to the acquisition of statehood with dignity,” the head of state remarked.
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Minsk was included in the IMF’s historic reserve allocation despite strong pushback from the U.S. and others. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has allocated Belarus almost $1 billion in reserve funds as part of the body’s unprecedented program to support the global economy as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, the IMF said Monday. The payout comes despite last-ditch attempts
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As the international community reckons with the fall of Kabul and Afghanistan itself into the Taliban’s hands, the mood on air of Russian state-controlled TVs is that of schadenfreude. The US has turned into a “regional state” or a “damaged petrol station”, according to the host of political talk-show “60 minutes”. The Kremlin is yet to shape a coherent narrative
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The most successful cyber-attack in the history of Belarus, involving entry to the regime’s most secret and sensitive data vaults, has been revealed by a group calling itself Belarusian Сyberpartisans. The scale of the hack is unprecedented. Hitherto known for pinprick attacks on the state structures of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s regime, the group announced its hack late last month. Cyberpartisans accessed
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In the document, Isachenko asks the UN to influence the authors of the sanctions The National Coordinator on achieving Sustainable Development Goals, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Anatoly Isachenko has addressed the UN General Assembly with an official statement-complaint about the Western sanctions against Belarus. This was reported by the press
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By Eric Martin and Aliaksandr Kudrytski Belarus’s authoritarian regime, weighed down by sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European Union, is set to get an almost $1 billion lifeline from the International Monetary Fund. That’s happening despite calls for the IMF to cut off President Alexander Lukashenko’s government following Western accusations of fraud in last year’s election and his brutal repression of protests
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Sarah Rainsford took part in Lukashenko’s eight-hour press conference and was one of the few media outlets to ask him tough questions about mass detentions, repression and torture. Russia has refused to extend a visa for Moscow-based BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford. This was reported by Bloomberg. Russian state media reported that the decision was made by the Russian Foreign Ministry as revenge for
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UkraineAlert by Brian Whitmore In a rambling and often unhinged eight-hour press conference this week, Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka appeared to make some news by declaring that he would soon resign as the country’s president. Lukashenka said he was not “clinging to this office with all my might. No, other people will come after me and it will be very
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Disinformation is at the heart of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime. The illegitimate(opens in a new tab) president of Belarus is clinging to power based on a lie that he worn the presidential election in August 2020. He forcibly landed a commercial flight with over 120 passengers to detain a dissident journalist using a fake bomb threat as pretext. Belarusian state-controlled media,
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Detained Russian national Sofia Sapega appears in Belarusian state television interview On the evening of August 10, Belarusian state television aired a brief interview with Russian national Sofia Sapega. The 23-year-old was detained in Minsk alongside Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasevich on May 23, shortly after the forced landing of a Ryanair plane. After spending weeks in a detention center
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