Belarus Watch Thread

[wjfox]

Western powers voice outrage as Belarus accused of hijacking plane

24 minutes ago

Western countries have condemned Belarus for diverting a plane flying over its territory to arrest a Belarusian opposition journalist.

EU leaders are due to discuss their response to what the union's executive called a "hijacking" and the US state department said was "a shocking act".

Belarus scrambled a fighter jet to force the plane - bound for Lithuania - to land, claiming a bomb threat.

Police came and took Roman Protasevich away when passengers disembarked.

The 26-year-old was aboard the Ryanair plane, which was flying from the Greek capital, Athens. The aircraft was due to land in Vilnius, but was still in Belarusian airspace when it was told to divert it to their own capital, Minsk.

Witnesses said the activist was "super-scared" and told fellow passengers he would face the death penalty - Belarus is the only European country to still use the death penalty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57224452

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Belarus leader accuses West of using plane incident to try to undermine him

May 26, 2021

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday accused the West of trying to use the diversion of a Ryanair plane at the weekend to wage hybrid war against him and said it had falsely portrayed his handling of the incident.

In his first comments after what some European politicians described as a "state-sponsored hijacking" on Sunday, Lukashenko said he had acted legally and in accordance with all international norms, but that 'ill-wishers' were trying to use the plane episode to try to undermine his rule.

"As we predicted our ill-wishers from outside the country and from inside the country changed their methods of attack on the state," Lukashenko told parliament.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-ma ... im-2515974

[Time_Traveller]

Here is something more on the hijacking.

[Time_Traveller]

UK companies face pressure over links to Belarus regime

Sun 30 May 2021

The role of UK companies in allegedly helping to prop up Europe’s so-called “last dictatorship” is coming under unprecedented pressure amid signs that lobbying by Belarusian exiles and others is paying off.

Rolls-Royce and British American Tobacco are among the firms that have responded to lobbying by the Belarusian diaspora and indicated they were willing to take action.

In the wake of the “hijacking” last Sunday of a Ryanair plane and the arrest of two passengers onboard, the Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend, activists in the UK have stepped up lobbying of the holders of Belarus bonds listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... rus-regime

[weatheriscool]

Belarus shuts borders: Citizens barred from leaving and foreigners must provide documents
Source: Express UK

By LUKE HAWKER
12:59, Mon, May 31, 2021 | UPDATED: 13:26, Mon, May 31, 2021

Border force has imposed strict restrictions on travel by Belarusian citizens and foreign nationals with a residential permit in Belarus. Those with a temporary residence card in another country are not allowed to leave.

A temporary residence permit in a foreign state is not a basis for leaving Belarus, the State Border Committee said.

It added departure from the country through ground checkpoints is limited for both Belarusian citizens and foreigners with a residence permit in Belarus.

Read more: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/14 ... ment-proof

[Time_Traveller]

NATO Chief Says Belarus Becoming 'More And More Dependent' On Russia

June 06, 2021

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Belarus is becoming “more and more dependent” on Russia following the nation's isolation by the West in the wake of its brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Stoltenberg made the comments in an interview with Welt am Sonntag that was published on June 6 a week before the annual NATO summit in the United Kingdom.

Russia and Belarus will be a key topic at the meeting, which will follow a three-day meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations to be held June 11-13.

Western nations imposed more sanctions on Belarus after Minsk diverted a plane traveling from Greece to Lithuania under the false pretext of a bomb threat in order to arrest a journalist critical of strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Stoltenberg told the paper that NATO is “following what is happening in Belarus very closely” and expressed concern over deeper ties between Minsk and Moscow.

https://www.rferl.org/a/nato-chief-jens ... 93164.html

[wjfox]

Belarus Olympics: Krystsina Tsimanouskaya refuses to fly home

Published
36 minutes ago

A Belarusian Olympic athlete has been taken to the airport in Tokyo to fly home after publicly complaining about the national team.

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was due to compete in the women's 200m event on Monday.

[...]

State media criticised her after she posted the video, with ONT television channel saying that she lacked "team spirit".

On Sunday she says that her coaches came to her room and told her to pack and to fly home. She was reportedly booked onto Turkish Airlines flight 199 from Tokyo's Haneda airport to Istanbul.

The sprinter told Reuters she was removed from her team because she "spoke on my Instagram about the negligence of our coaches".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58046183

[Time_Traveller]

Belarus sprinter faces long exile in Poland after seeking refuge

Mon 2 Aug 2021

Just two years ago, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was greeted by smiling Belarusian athletics and academic officials as she brandished a gold medal from the 2019 Summer Universiade, the young star’s greatest victory for her native Belarus yet.

Now that same bureaucracy is threatening to tear her life apart, as her coach and a delegation official warned a crying Tsimanouskaya on leaked audio that she was “caught in a spider’s web” and suggested that cases of “excessive pride” often lead to suicide.

The 24-year-old sprinter’s dramatic decision to refuse to return to Minsk from the Tokyo Olympics shows how the political protests and crackdown in Belarus have touched countless lives, including that of a promising young sprinter who strove not to entangle herself in politics and stick to the sport.

Born in the town of Klimavichy in eastern Belarus, Tsimanouskaya’s early sprinting experience was largely constrained to district competitions and “racing the boys around the courtyard, and I usually won”, she said in a 2015 interview. When an Olympic trainer offered her a spot at an academy at the late age of 15, her parents worried about her future, wondering whether her Olympics dream was worth the risk. She convinced them with her grandmother’s help.

Tsimanouskaya had become a rising star for her strong showings in the 100m and 200m sprints, capped by her gold medal performance at the Universiade in 2019 and a silver medal at the European Games in Minsk that same year. In Tokyo this week, she posed alongside a scoreboard with the Olympic sprinting icon and wrote that her first games “would be etched in my memory” and that she was “in the moment”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ing-asylum

[wjfox]

Vitaly Shishov: Head of Belarus exiles group found dead in Ukraine

31 minutes ago

The head of a group helping people flee Belarus has been found dead near his home in neighbouring Ukraine.

Vitaly Shishov's body was found hanged in a park in Kyiv, a day after he failed to return from a jog. Police have opened a murder inquiry.

Police said they were investigating whether he had been killed and his death made to look like suicide.

Mr Shishov led the Belarusian House in Ukraine, helping those who left Belarus after a violent crackdown.

Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania in particular have become favoured destinations for those fleeing persecution following a disputed presidential election in Belarus in August 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58065313

[Time_Traveller]

Vitaly Shishov: Head of Belarus exiles group found dead in Ukraine

31 minutes ago

The head of a group helping people flee Belarus has been found dead near his home in neighbouring Ukraine.

Vitaly Shishov's body was found hanged in a park in Kyiv, a day after he failed to return from a jog. Police have opened a murder inquiry.

Police said they were investigating whether he had been killed and his death made to look like suicide.

Mr Shishov led the Belarusian House in Ukraine, helping those who left Belarus after a violent crackdown.

Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania in particular have become favoured destinations for those fleeing persecution following a disputed presidential election in Belarus in August 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58065313

All we need to find out if Belarus itself had anything to do with his death as well.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Britain imposes new sanctions on Belarus - but President Lukashenko tells London to 'choke on them'

Monday 9 August 2021 14:15, UK

Britain has imposed sanctions on Belarus to put pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko over what it calls his regime's attempts to "crush democracy and violate human rights".

The economic sanctions targeting the country's state-owned banks also come alongside measures to prevent Belarusian air carriers from flying over or landing in the UK.

Mr Lukashenko dismissed the fresh sanctions by Britain, saying London could "choke on them".

https://news.sky.com/story/britain-impo ... m-12377248

[caltrek]

Belarus Sentences Top Opposition Figure to 11 Years in Prison
by Cain Burdeau
Septembet 7, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/belarus- ... in-prison/

Introduction:

(Courthouse News) — Maria Kolesnikova, a presidential candidate and leader of protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Monday on charges of seeking to overthrow the government.

Her harsh sentence was condemned by Western governments as unjust and the latest outrage by Lukashenko's regime in its crackdown on opposition figures.

Kolesnikova, 39, became the radiant and defiant face of mass street protests in Minsk following the presidential election of August 2020 that gave Lukashenko an improbably overwhelming victory. Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has built around him a repressive regime.

Also sentenced on Monday by Minsk Regional Court was Maksim Znak, a lawyer and another leading member of the opposition council set up in the wake of the election to challenge Lukashenko's rule.

Their trial was held behind closed doors and defense lawyers were forbidden from speaking about the details of the proceedings.

[Xyls]

Just another tin pot dictator trying to get nuclear weapons? This is VERY provocative...

Belarus referendum approves proposal to renounce non-nuclear status - agencies

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/la ... 022-02-27/

[wjfox]

[peekpok]

How stable is Belarus these days? Is the Russian sphere of influence about to have another domino fall?

[wjfox]

Russia ally Belarus brings in death penalty for high treason

Thu 9 Mar 2023 20.12 GMT

Belarus’s authoritarian president has signed a bill introducing capital punishment for state officials and military personnel convicted of high treason.

The amendments to the country’s criminal code endorsed by President Alexander Lukashenko envisage death sentences for officials and service personnel who cause “irreparable damage” to Belarus’s national security through acts of treason.

Belarus is the only country in Europe that has not banned capital punishment, which has been applied to those convicted of murder or terrorism. Executions are carried out with a shot to the back of the head.

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for nearly three decades, brutally suppressing dissent. Belarusian authorities unleashed a crackdown against demonstrators who protested against his re-election in an August 2020 vote that the opposition and the west denounced as rigged, detaining more than 35,000 and beating thousands.

On Monday, a Belarusian court sentenced Lukashenko’s main challenger in the election, exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, in absentia to 15 years in prison on charges including conspiring to overthrow the government. Last week, the country’s most prominent human rights advocate and 2022 Nobel peace prize laureate, Ales Bialiatski, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... gh-treason

[wjfox]

Wagner: Satellite images show activity at military base in Belarus

1 hour ago

Satellite images appear to show activity at a disused military base in Belarus, amid speculation about Wagner forces relocating to the country.

An image from 27 June obtained by BBC Verify, and first reported by Radio Free Europe, shows what could be tents or similar structures appearing at the base.

An earlier image taken on 19 June shows the fields within the military compound largely empty.

The Wagner group, which is made up of mercenaries, had been fighting for Russia in Ukraine until last weekend, when it staged a rebellion.

Its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, later called off an advance to Moscow after a deal was struck with the help of the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66052061

[caltrek]

Wagner Group Licks Its Wounds In Belarus
by Christopher M. Faulkner, Colin P. Clarke, and Raphael Parens
August 12, 2023

Introduction:

(Foreign Policy Research Institute) — Most analysts have labeled Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted rebellion and the Wagner Group mutiny a failure. And in many ways, that’s true. Indeed, Prigozhin and the contingent of Wagner fighters that eschewed signing contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence have reportedly been exiled to Belarus where Wagner appeared in recent weeks to be building a sprawling base south of Minsk. Meanwhile, Prigozhin has faced some setbacks. In addition to weathering scathing critiques from Russian state media, many of his assets were initially seized by Russian authorities, and he’s stood by helplessly as parts of his economic and media empire have slowly been commandeered or liquidated altogether.

Yet, in other ways, Prigozhin has emerged from this fiasco as a winner. Legal charges against him were dropped, he still boasts incredible wealth, and he even met with Putin soon after the short-lived mutiny fizzled out. And though technically exiled from Russia, Wagner’s asylum in Belarus has provided the mercenary outfit with the potential for a new lease on life. Its stated mission, at least for the time being, will be to train the Belarusian army and refocus its attention on overseas deployments to the Central African Republic, Mali, and other resource-rich fragile states. Video released on July 19 appeared to show Prigozhin along with a shadowy figure believed to be Dimitry Utkin, Wagner’s founding father, preaching to Wagner fighters about their renewed purpose and focus. But recent speculation has called into question just how long Wagner forces will be welcome in Belarussian territory

Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/12082023 ... nalysis/