Belarus opposition told to “be ready” for democracy push as rumours of leader’s ill health swirl
Reuters Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told her supporters on Monday to be ready to grab any chance to turn her country into a democracy as speculation about the health of veteran President Alexander Lukashenko swirled. Shortly after her message to supporters via Twitter, a Belarusian state news channel released a photo of Lukashenko, […]
Mass arrests as Belarus confirms ditching non-nuclear status in referendum vote
Reuters About 800 people were arrested as Belarus voted to ditch its non-nuclear status in a referendum that raises the stakes at a time when the country has become a staging ground for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government said on Monday. The vote sparked the biggest protests in months as thousands took to […]
Iraqi baby buried as death toll in EU-Belarus crisis grows
Bohoniki, PolandAP A Polish imam recited prayers Tuesday over the tiny white casket of an unborn Iraqi boy, the latest life claimed as migrants from the Middle East have tried to slip into the European Union illegally and found their path blocked by soldiers in the forests of Poland and Belarus. After the first snow […]
Belarus clears migrant camps at EU border, but crisis not yet over
Bruzgi, Belarus Reuters Belarus authorities on Thursday cleared the main camps where migrants had huddled at the border with Poland, in a change of tack that could lower the temperature in a crisis that has spiralled in recent weeks into a major East-West confrontation. In another potential sign of the crisis easing, hundreds of Iraqis […]
Quick facts: How Belarus became gateway to EU for Middle East migrants
Reuters Hundreds of migrants are stuck in freezing temperatures on the Belarusian border with Poland trying to get into the European Union as EU capitals and Minsk accuse each other of causing the crisis and of endangering lives. Poland and other EU member states say Belarus is encouraging the migrants to cross the border into […]
Poland reports record number of migrants at Belarusian border
Warsaw, PolandReuters A record number of migrants have crossed the Polish border with Belarus since Friday, the Border Guard said on Monday, amid accusations Minsk is using illegal crossings to pressure European Union states. Poland and Lithuania have seen a surge in illegal migration in recent weeks that is so severe the countries have appealed […]
Belarus faces sanctions backlash over jetliner “state piracy”
Brussels, Belgium/Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Western powers prepared to pile sanctions on Belarus and cut off its aviation links on Monday, furious after it scrambled a warplane to intercept a Ryanair aircraft and arrest a dissident journalist, an act one leader denounced as “state piracy”. In a video posted online, the detained blogger Roman Protasevich, 26, […]
Belarus forces airliner to land and arrests opponent, sparking US and European outrage
Moscow, RussiaReuters Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land on Sunday and then detained an opposition-minded journalist who was on board, drawing condemnation from Europe and the United States. In the incident, described by some EU leaders as […]
Belarus allows Roman Catholic Archbishop to return
Moscow, RussiaAP Belarusian authorities have allowed a Roman Catholic priest to return to the country after denying him entry for months. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk and Mohilev arrived in Belarus on Thursday. Kondrusiewicz was barred from entering the ex-Soviet nation for nearly four months after his criticism of the Belarusian authorities’ crackdown on protests […]