Latest Belarus News
Belarus' foreign minister arrives in North Korea for talks expected to focus on Russia cooperation
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Belarus’ foreign minister arrived in North Korea on Tuesday as experts predicted that he and North Korean officials would discuss forming a trilateral anti-Western front also involving Russia. Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov flew to Pyongyang...
International human rights group calls on Belarus to stop execution of German
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A consortium of international human rights organizations is calling for Belarus not to execute a German citizen recently condemned to death after being convicted of terrorism, extremism and mercenary activities. Rico Krieger, a medical worker with the...
Belarus' foreign minister will visit North Korea for possible talks on Russia cooperation
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Belarus’ foreign minister is to visit North Korea this week, the two countries announced Monday, a trip expected to focus on discussions of trilateral cooperation involving Russia in the face of their separate confrontations with the West. Belarusian...
German sentenced to death in Belarus, Europe's only nation to perform executions, rights group says
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Belarusian human rights group said Friday that a German citizen has been sentenced to death for terrorism and other charges connected to an explosion intended to undermine public order. Belarus is the only country in Europe that still executes prisoners...
UN panel calls on Belarus to release Nobel Peace laureate from prison
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A United Nations panel of human rights experts called on Belarus to release the Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder of the country's most respected rights group, who has been behind bars for three years. Ales Bialiatski's imprisonment came amid a widespread...
Key events in Alexander Lukashenko's 30 years as the iron-fisted leader of Belarus
Key events in the 30-year rule of Belarus' hard-line President Alexander Lukashenko: July 20, 1994 — Lukashenko is inaugurated as president after a landslide victory in what international observers say was the post-Soviet country's first and only genuinely free election. He...
Leader of Belarus marks 30 years in power after crushing all dissent and cozying up to Moscow
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — For three decades, European leaders have come and gone by the dozens, but Alexander Lukashenko remains in absolute control of Belarus. His longevity is due to a mixture of harshly silencing all dissent, reverting to Soviet-style economic controls and...
Belarus broadens visa-free travel for 35 European countries
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian authorities on Wednesday expanded visa-free travel for residents of 35 European countries, including members of the European Union and the United Kingdom, as part of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko' s efforts to improve relations with the West. ...
Baltic countries notify Russia and Belarus they will exit the Moscow-controlled electricity grid
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The electricity grid operators of the three Baltic countries on Tuesday officially notified Russia and Belarus that they will exit a 2001 agreement that has kept Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania connected to an electricity transmission system controlled by Moscow. ...
Nobel laureates call on Belarus' leader to release all political prisoners
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Dozens of Nobel Prize laureates are calling in an open letter on Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko to free all political prisoners, after 18 seriously ill activists were released this month. The Belarusian human rights group Viasna...
