Slava Ukraini !!
UkraineAlert by Brian Whitmore The axis of autocrats in Eastern Europe continues to solidify as Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka bends over backwards to please his patrons and masters in the Kremlin. In the wake of last month’s summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Lukashenka has made two announcements that effectively indicate he is prepared to recognize Russia’s illegal annexation
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No Thaw in Belarus despite Warm Weather Immediately after the outbreak of mass protests in Belarus following the disputed 9 August 2020 presidential elections, the historic white-red-white flag became the symbol of the protest movement. Following the widespread crackdown against protesters and independent media with over 30,000 people temporarily arrested and over 1,000 criminal cases opened, the authorities of Belarus
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The “interview” of Roman Protasevich — which bears resemblance to Stalin’s infamous show trials — presents a challenge to journalists covering it. The film Mission to Moscow was released in the United States in 1943, in the heat of World War II. Based on the memoirs of former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union Joseph E. Davies, it became nearly
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Last August, Rupinder Singh wrote about the crisis in Belarus and the possible European Union and United Kingdom policy responses and the two possible reactions from Alexander Lukashenko – put simply to accept the election results (flight) or dig in and use the security apparatus to retain power (fight). Autocrats rarely relinquish power voluntarily, and Lukashenko’s choice is clearly to stick it
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Article by: Robert van Voren Editor’s Note Protasevich is in hell, and there is no escape. The Belarussian KGB are faithful heirs to Yuri Andropov, and they will play with him as long as they wish. Robert van Voren, who had extensively helped Soviet dissidents back in the days, dissects the perfidious methods used by the Belarusian KGB — and the
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People’s anti-crisis Management has announced the beginning of mass protests at the Belarusian-Polish border. This way, it plans to force the European Union to impose effective sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime. The first coordinated action will begin on Saturday, June 5, at the Babrouniki-Berastavitsa checkpoint. The action has been agreed upon with local authorities. Other countries are likely to follow, says
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The European Union Aviation Safety Agency on Wednesday issued a safety directive (SD) calling on EASA member states to ban their aircraft operators from flying into Belarus airspace. The move for the first time calls for mandates to not overfly Belarus “unless required for safe operations in unforeseen circumstances,” said EASA. The directive calls on national aviation authorities to put the measures in
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MINSK, 3 June (BelTA) – Europe wants to use Belarus in the fight against Russia, former Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov of Ukraine said in an interview with the ONT TV channel on 2 June, BelTA has learned. “No one in the European Union cares about Belarus (no offense, my dear Belarusians). The only thing they want of Belarus is to
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UkraineAlert by Brian Whitmore Vladimir Putin has a proven skill for surreptitiously playing the arsonist and then offering his services as a firefighter. In Ukraine, he started a war in the Donbas and then managed to get Russia recognized as a mediator in a conflict where it was both instigator and combatant. In Syria, Russia’s intervention on the side of
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Germany has blocked flights operated by Russian airlines from arriving in its territory in tit-for-tat action after Moscow failed to provide authorizations for Lufthansa, the transport ministry said Wednesday, amid tensions over Belarus. Two Russia-bound Lufthansa flights that were due to depart earlier Wednesday from Germany had to be canceled because Russian authorities did not provide the necessary permits for
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The funding comes as Belarus is preparing to be hit by potentially far-reaching EU sanctions on its key export industries. Russia has transferred the second installment of a billion-dollar loan to Belarus, as the isolated country prepares to be hit by a fresh round of Western sanctions. Belarus’ Finance Ministry said Wednesday it had received the $500 million payment from
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Activists told The Moscow Times they fear outrage over the forced landing of a plane in Minsk might not spark harsh enough action. Belarusian opposition activists in exile are calling for the EU to ramp up sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime after the forced landing of a Ryanair Athens to Vilnius flight and arrest of a dissident journalist onboard.
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By doing so, the government legalizes Russia’s actions against Ukraine in 2014; president Zelensky, in fact, recognizes Ukraine’s right to interfere into domestic conflicts in Belarus, opposition figure says By interfering with Belarus’s domestic affairs, the Ukrainian government actually legalizes Russia’s actions against Ukraine in 2014. Renat Kuzmin, the MP from Opposition Platform-For Life party posted this on Facebook. “[President]
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Russian airlines have started to bypass Belarus’ airspace, despite the fact that the European restrictions do not apply to them. Forbes reports, citing sources in the airline industry, that about 10 Russian flights flew around Belarus as of May 27. “It is impossible to give the reasons for the change of routes and whether it is due to political motives,”
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If during the Cold War its participants understood the world as the Great Chessboard, today we can talk about a session of simultaneous play on several “boards” between Russia and the United States. What is the reason? Apparently, in the changing nature of international relations, in the transformation of the world into a multipolar 20 years ago. US dominance has
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Belarus is ready to restore the free trade regime with Ukraine if Kyiv reconsiders measures imposed on Belarusian goods. “We are ready to completely repeal all our decisions, we are ready to restore the free trade regime in full, but only when Ukraine reconsiders the measures imposed on the products of the Belarusian side which were de facto aimed at
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Timothy Ash There is now an impulse for significant economic sanctions against Belarus both in Europe and in the United States. Of course, in Belarus we are witnessing a rather unusual development of events: a pirate seizure (in other words, it cannot be described) of a Ryanair aircraft took place in the country’s airspace , which was forced to land in Minsk, after which opposition
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Hamas earlier denied it was aware of or had any connection to any such bomb threat. A bomb threat referred to by Belarusian government as grounds for forcing a Ryanair flight carrying an opposition journalist to land in Minsk was sent after the plane was diverted, email provider Proton Technologies AG says. Belarusian officials say they ordered the plane flying
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Autocrats around the world are watching the EU. Tough sanctions against Belarus would send a strong signal about Brussels’ resolve. The hijacking of a Ryanair flight and the arrest of Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich on May 23 brought the Belarus crisis back onto front pages around the globe. The brazen act reignited international outrage which had first flared up following
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The European Union is preparing to tighten the currency stranglehold around Alexander Lukashenko’s neck, whose regime is already losing a key source of export earnings after NAFTAN refinery was put on the U.S. “blacklist”. The European sanctions against Belarus in response to the forced landing of the Ryanair flight in Minsk may include measures against the transit of Russian gas through Belarus,
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The UN civil aviation agency will hold an urgent meeting Thursday to discuss Belarus after Western powers on the UN Security Council called for the body to investigate Minsk’s diversion of a European flight and arrest of a dissident. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council will meet as the consequences of the incident play out in Europe’s airspace, with
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UkraineAlert by Brian Whitmore It has been called an act of state-sponsored air piracy, a hijacking, and a kidnapping. It has led European leaders to order EU-based airlines to stop flying over Belarusian airspace and to ban Belarusian carriers from flying over EU airspace or using its airports. It has isolated Belarus like never before. And it will almost certainly
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By Timothy Ash. The European Union and the US seem to be coordinating further sanctions iterations, having picked the low-hanging fruit thus far by restricting air travel to and thru Belarus. On the sanctions front, it’s interesting that there seems to be unusual unanimity within the West as to the merits of aggressively sanctioning Alexander Lukashenko. I guess this reflects a
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The head of the UkSATSE enterprise Andriy Yarmak said that when the plane of the Athens-Vilnius flight of Ryanair was in the airspace of Ukraine, there were no reports of a non-standard situation on board. Yarmak informed NV that during the flight on May 23, UkSATSE air traffic services did not receive requests to change the flight plan. “ During the Ryanair transit
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Foreign detractors are waging a hybrid war against Belarus, treating it as a testing ground before their “attack on the East”, said self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, speaking in the Belarusian parliament. According to him, the real goal of “Western strategists” is Russia, against which “one well-known extremist channel, which was born from Belarusian problems, is already actively working.” “We are on
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