The 26-year-old Pratasevich left Belarus in 2019 and faced charges there of inciting riots

President Alexander Lukashenko and his allies.... Pratasevich, a dissident journalist, was arrested May

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s high-level talks at the White House on July 19th coincided with yet another wave of brutal repressions on civil society in her home country, where independent media has now almost been extinguished.... Restoring the work of independent media should be a precondition at least equal to the release of political prisoners. Images of Belarusians peacefully and courageously demanding a free and fair process in the August 2020 election were watch

Belarus' president Alexander Lukashenko is using migration to put political pressure on the European Union, it's been claimed.It comes after Euronews reported migrant crossings on the Lithuania-Belarus border have soared this year.... More than 1, 500 illegal crossings have been registered in 2021, compared with just 81 for the whole of 2020. The Lithuanian government has declared a state of emergency to address the sharp rise in migration, which it says Belarusian authorities are encouraging..

The runner said on her Instagram account that she was put in the 4x400 relay even though she has never raced in the event. The runner was then apparently hustled to the airport but refused to board a flight for Istanbul and instead approached police for help.... In a filmed message distributed on social media, she also asked the International Olympic Committee for assistance.“ I was put under pressure, and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent, ” the 24-year-

Leaders in Brussels have met to discuss whether to curb some migrants' rights to ward off what the bloc has called a hybrid attack by Minsk.... Since this summer, thousands of migrants have gathered at Belarus' border with Poland, which doubles up as the EU's eastern frontier.... And this is not possible to derogate.".....

The UK is readying to deploy additional troops to Poland and Lithuania as the migrant crisis along their shared border with Belarus continues.... The Ministry of Defence( MoD) announced that 140 military engineers will be sent to Poland, adding that a separate team has also been sent to Lithuania.... Because in the Belarusian case, what is Lukashenko doing?...

More than 120 passengers departed Athens on Sunday morning expecting to land in Lithuania within three hours.... But just miles from Lithuania’s border, Ryanair flight FR4978 was diverted, veering southeast to make an emergency landing in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Support our journalism.... It looked like if the window had been open, he would have jumped out of it.” According to the Instagram story of one woman aboard, Protasevich begged a flight attendant not to give him away....

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, greets Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during a European Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting at the European Council building in Luxembourg, on June 21, 2021.... The four called on Minsk to cooperate with an international probe into the incident, immediately release all political prisoners, and" enter into a comprehensive and genuine political dialogue" with the democratic opposition and civil society.... Among t

Migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere rest on the ground as they gather at the Belarus-Poland border near Grodno, Belarus, on Nov.... The opposition and the West rejected the result as a sham.... Belarusian authorities responded to the demonstrations with a fierce crackdown that saw more than 35, 000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police....