Contents tagged with Belarus
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EU imposes sanctions on 78 Belarusian officials including members of Lukashenko's family
The European Union has decided to freeze assets of 78 Belarusian officials and eight Belarusian companies, reported the Radio Liberty journalist Rikard Jozwiak on Twitter.
According to him, the EU froze assets and imposed visa bans on several Belarusian businessmen, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, rectors, and high-ranking military officials.
Family members of the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, were also put on the sanctions list.
Jozwiak added that …
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European Parliaments calls for disconnecting Belarus from SWIFT
The European Parliament calls for Belarus to be disconnected from the SWIFT payment system, as well as to ban the country's national team from participating in the Tokyo Olympic, reported the Belarusian news outlet Nasha Niva.
The European Parliament calls on the Council of the European Union to expand sanctions against Belarus as soon as possible. The sanctions list should include all those responsible for the forced landing of the Ryanair passenger plane and the arrest of opposition …
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NATO concerned over Belarus’ increased dependence on Russia
NATO is concerned over increased cooperation between Russia and Belarus, said NATO’S Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg,
In an interview with the German weekly Welt am Sonntag, Stoltenberg said that NATO member states were "seriously concerned" about the close engagement between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko in recent months.
According to Stoltenberg, Belarus is becoming "increasingly dependent" on Russia.
He warned Moscow and Minsk against destabilizing the situation on …
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Russian and Belarusian special services agree to jointly fight against ‘destructive activities of the West’
The heads of the Russian and Belarusian special services agreed to jointly fight "the destructive activities of the West against the Union State", reported Interfax.
The decision was made in Vitebsk during a working meeting between Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and Ivan Tertel, chairman of the KGB of Belarus.
"The SVR of Russia and the KGB of Belarus, in the spirit of traditionally fraternal relations, have agreed to work together to counter the …
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Ukraine calls on Belarus to release Roman Protasevich
The Ukrainian Parliament adopted a statement regarding the incident with the forced landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk, which occurred on May 23.
In the statement, the Ukrainian parliament strongly condemns the actions of the Belarusian authorities to divert the Ryanair flight and the arrest OF the Belarusian opposition journalist, Roman Protasevich.
The Parliament called for the immediate release of Roman Protasevich and all political prisoners, an end to the torture used by the …
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Lukashenko ready to allow Russian troops into Belarus if necessary
Self-proclaimed president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he is ready to allow Russian troops in Belarus, if necessary, but sees no need for a Russian permanent military base.
He said this at a meeting on cooperation with Russia.
"There were no discussions in terms of the deployment of the Russian Armed Forces on a permanent basis, the creation of some bases. This was not even discussed. And we don't need that. Because, according to our concept of military security of the Union …
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Russian airlines start bypassing Belarus’ airspace
Russian airlines have started to bypass Belarus’ airspace, despite the fact that the European restrictions do not apply to them.
Forbes reports, citing sources in the airline industry, that about 10 Russian flights flew around Belarus as of May 27.
"It is impossible to give the reasons for the change of routes and whether it is due to political motives," said one of the publication sources. "There may also be technical reasons."
According to another source, the airlines had asked in advance …
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U.S. and Poland launch investigations into Ryanair incident
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Poland have launched their own investigations into the emergency landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk, which lead to an arrest of a well-known Belarusian oppositionist Roman Protasevich, said the head of the Criminal Police of Lithuania Rolandas Kiškis at a press conference in Vilnius.
"Along with the investigation launched in the Polish Republic, we have information from our colleagues from the United States that the FBI has launched its own …
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Lukashenko complains to Putin about pressure from the West
Self-proclaimed president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko complained about Western pressure during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Deutsche Welle reports.
The meeting between Putin and Lukashenko took place in Sochi on Friday, May 28.
Lukashenko complained about restrictive measures against Belarusian airlines, including the state-owned Belavia, after the incident with the forced landing of the Ryanair airliner.
"This case with the plane, Belavia has nothing to do …
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Moscow to open Russia's airspace for flights bypassing Belarus
Russian authorities decided not to continue the air war with the EU after European airlines began to fly around Belarus in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.
On Thursday evening, Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviation, convened for an emergency meeting to discuss how to deal with European flights requesting permission to enter the Russian airspace.
A Vienna-Moscow Austrian Airlines flight and a Paris-Moscow Air France flight were denied entry into the …