Latest Belarus News
Baltic states and Poland seek EU funds for a massive border defense line
HELSINKI (AP) — NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland will seek European Union funding to build a network of bunkers, barriers, distribution lines and military warehouses along their borders with Russia and Belarus, Estonia’s officials said Saturday. The three Baltic...
Activists say police in Belarus beat LGBTQ+ people while arresting and charging them
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Rights activists in harshly repressive Belarus say police recently subjected at least 20 LGBTQ+ people to questioning, during which some were beaten and were charged with crimes. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Belarus in 1994, but animosity toward...
Teachers in Belarus are targeted for links with 'extremist' group, says rights group
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Dozens of teachers in Belarus have been detained or interrogated by authorities as part of the country's wide-ranging crackdown on dissent, a respected local human rights organization said Wednesday. Pavel Sapelka, a spokesman for the Viasna rights group...
A Belarus government critic appeals to the Serbian president against his extradition
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A prominent Belarus filmmaker and a critic of Minsk's authoritarian government handed a letter to the Serbian presidency signed by hundreds of artists on Monday, appealing against his extradition to his home country where he says he could be tortured and killed. ...
Authoritarian Belarus president pardons 37 political prisoners out of more than 1,300
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday pardoned 37 people serving prison sentences for “extremist" crimes, his office said. It is the fourth time since July that the authoritarian leader has pardoned dozens of political prisoners in what some...
In Belarus, the native language is vanishing as Russian takes prominence
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When school started this year for Mikalay in Belarus, the 15-year-old discovered that his teachers and administrators no longer called him by that name. Instead, they referred to him as Nikolai, its Russian equivalent. What's more, classes at his school —...
Serbian appeals court overturns ruling to extradite to Belarus a critic of its authoritarian regime
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — An appeals court in Serbia on Wednesday overturned an earlier court ruling that a prominent critic of the authoritarian government in Belarus should be extradited to that country, and said that the case must be retried. Serbian authorities arrested...
Belarusians fleeing repression at home say they face new threats and intimidation abroad
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — More than a half-million Belarusians have fled their country in the past four years as the authoritarian government launched a harsh crackdown on its political opponents. Some of them, however, are discovering that they can't escape intimidation and threats in their new...
Aryna Sabalenka beats Jessica Pegula to win the US Open for her third Grand Slam title
NEW YORK (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka left the U.S. Open in tears 12 months ago as the runner-up. She exited in the semifinals each of the two years before that, other losses that were difficult to digest. On Saturday, Sabalenka was in a joking mood after winning her first championship at Flushing...
Jessica Pegula will meet Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open women's final Saturday
NEW YORK (AP) — Back in January, when Aryna Sabalenka was winning a second consecutive Australian Open title, Jessica Pegula was bowing out in the second round with a straight-set loss against someone ranked 51st. It wasn't the first setback for Pegula, of course. There have been...
