Belarus
Belarusian athlete ‘safe’ but out of Games after late night stand-off
Victor Lukashenko, the eldest son of Belarus’s Soviet-era leader Alexander Lukashenko, dispatched two officials to an athlete’s room to escort her to the airport and load her onto a flight to Minsk. The IOC says she is now in “safe” in the hands of authorities in Tokyo.
- by Chip Le Grand
Latest
‘Hybrid attack’: Belarus sends Iraqi and African migrants streaming across Lithuania’s border
This new flow of people did not begin organically, Lithuanian and EU say but is the result of an audacious plan by Belarusian President to weaponise migration.
- by Reis Thebault and Robyn Dixon
Belarusian sprinter says she was taken to airport against her wishes, will not return home
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was due to compete on Monday, said she had sought the protection of Japanese police at Tokyo’s Haneda airport so she would not have to board the flight.
- by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber
Jailed Belarus dissident displayed as ‘hostage’ at briefing
Journalists from the BBC walked out of the event, saying it was clear he appeared under duress.
- by Nataliya Vasilyeva
Belarusian blogger’s supporters decry ‘hostage’ video confession
“I criticised Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] a lot, but...I began to understand that he was doing the right thing,” said Raman Pratasevich.
- by Matthias Williams
‘She is just a girl’: Putin lobbied to help free dissident’s girlfriend
Even writers at Pravda are demanding the release of 23-year-old Russian Sofia Sapega, arrested last week in Minsk alongside boyfriend Raman Pratasevich.
- by Nataliya Vasilyeva
From geek to firebrand: Why Belarus hijacked a plane to capture Raman Pratasevich
Dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich laughed it off when Belarus declared him a terrorist last year. But then the President sent a jet to divert his flight.
- by Michelle Griffin
Flying the unfriendly skies: Russia-EU tensions rise over Belarus airspace
A series of developments showed how the diversion of the flight from Greece to Lithuania and the arrest of Raman Pratasevich were having widening repercussions for travel and commerce.
- by Anton Troianovski
Belarus leader defends plane diversion, accuses West of waging ‘hybrid war’
Belarus’ president has defended the forced diversion of a passenger jet to Minsk and accused the West of waging a hybrid war.
- by Tom Balmforth and Maria Kiselyova
Updated
World politics
Detained blogger’s girlfriend also appears in confession video
Sofia Sapega was detained by Minsk “in connection with the suspicion of having committed...offences”.
- by Polina Devitt
Updated
World politics
EU leaders sanction Belarus after ‘state-sponsored hijacking’ of flight
EU leaders also demanded the immediate release of the journalist, Raman Pratasevich, a key foe of authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
- by Anton Troianovski