Belarus

Vantage | Why Finland's border crisis may be more about Russia vs NATO

The crisis has escalated to the diplomatic front with Russia summoning the Finnish ambassador to lodge a complaint over the border closures

Belarus puts Nobel Peace Prize winner in solitary confinement

Massive protests against a 2020 election that the opposition and many in the West perceived as a sham that extended authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko's rule prompted the arrests of Bialiatski and his colleagues

Belarus accuses Polish helicopter of violating its airspace

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February of last year further worsened already tense ties between the neighbours

Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko proposes three-way partnership with allies Russia and North Korea

The European Parliament earlier this week accused Lukashenko of being complicit in Russian war crimes in Ukraine and urged the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for the Belarusian leader’s arrest. ICC has already issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of heinous war crimes

Russia criticizes rules allowing some of its swimmers to compete as neutrals ahead of Olympics

World Aquatics has excluded swimmers from Russia and its ally Belarus since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, but on Monday launched a scheme to grant “Neutral Individual Athlete” status to athletes who pass a vetting procedure

Sweden's Nobel Foundation reverses invitation policy, says Russia, Belarus, Iran and far-right leader are welcome

The Nobel Foundation that administers the prestigious awards, has reversed its invitation policy and invited Russia, Belarus and Iran, as well as the leader of a far-right Swedish party, who had previously been banned

US, Canada issue new sanctions against top Russian ally Belarus

Western sanctions have been imposed on Belarus over the years in relation to that alleged crackdown and election fraud. Minsk also allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine on February 24 last year

Why Wagner troops’ presence in Belarus is troubling NATO

NATO is watching closely as tensions ramp up between Poland and Russian-ally Belarus over claims of Wagner mercenaries being positioned close to the border. Experts fear the deploying of troops could escalate into all-out war between Moscow and NATO and raise the risk of nuclear escalation

Poland accuses Belarus of violating its airspace, rushes troops to Eastern border

In response, the Belarusian military denied the accusations and pointed fingers at NATO member Poland, which strongly supports Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, claiming that Poland fabricated the incident to justify a troop buildup

Aggression against Belarus is attack on Russia: Putin tells Poland

Warsaw's Security Committee decided on Wednesday to move military units to eastern Poland after members of the Russian Wagner mercenary force arrived in Belarus, the state-run news agency PAP quoted its secretary as saying on Friday