Tag Archives: Belarus

The European Court of Human Rights asked the Polish and Latvian governments on Wednesday to intervene to help migrants camped on the Belarus border. The fate of the migrants has become part of a broader dispute between the European Union and Belarus and groups such as Polish refugee charity Ocalenie …

Poland will build a fence along its border with Belarus and double the number of troops there, the defense minister said on Monday, to halt a flow of migrants the European Union says is being driven by Minsk in retaliation for EU sanctions. Poland and fellow EU states Lithuania and …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday condemned the way Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko treats refugees, adding that Germany would consult closely with its European partners on a coordinated response. “President Lukashenko is using refugees, for example from Iraq, in a hybrid way to undermine security, and of course we condemn …

Belarus has told the United States embassy in Minsk to reduce its staff against the backdrop of the latest sanctions imposed by Washington, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry says. Anatoly Glaz, a foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday that Minsk had informed the US it wanted the embassy …

The General Company for Iraqi Airways announced the arrival of its exceptional flight to Baghdad International Airport, which was designated to evacuate Iraqi citizens stranded in Belarus and its borders with Lithuania. The company’s administration indicated in a statement that about 240 Iraqi citizens were evacuated, and the body of …

President Lukashenko says the migrants Lithuania turns away will not be allowed back into Belarus. The president of Belarus has ordered the country’s security forces to tighten control over the border with Lithuania, which had begun turning away migrants attempting to cross from Belarus earlier this week. Lithuania, an EU …

A Belarusian activist was found dead in a park near his home in Kyiv early on Tuesday, a day after he was reported missing, Ukrainian police said. Vitaly Shishov, who led a Kyiv-based organisation that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution, had been reported missing by his partner on Monday after not …

A Belarusian athlete who refused to board a flight after she said she was taken to the airport by her team against her wishes was “safe and secure” in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, spent the night in an airport hotel after she went …

A Belarusian sprinter refused to get on a flight from Tokyo on Sunday after being taken to the airport against her wishes by her team following her complaints about national coaches at the Olympic Games. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, was still at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in the early hours of Monday. …

Lithuania’s border guard service said it detained 171 people caught illegally crossing from Belarus into Lithuania on Tuesday night, the largest number in a single day in 2021 and bringing the total number of migrants detained so far this year to 3,027. The border service said the group of migrants, …

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 …

Lithuania began building a barrier along its border with Belarus on Friday after accusing Belarusian authorities of flying in migrants from abroad to send illegally into the European Union. The first stretch of barrier will run 500 metres (1,640 feet) in length, measure 1.8 metres (six feet) in height and …

The European Union is set to ban new loans to Belarus after reaching a deal on Friday for economic sanctions on Minsk as punishment for forcing down a flight to arrest a journalist, the Austrian foreign ministry and three diplomats said. Broad economic sanctions would be the EU’s strongest response …

A deputy Polish parliamentary speaker faced calls for his dismissal on Saturday after criticising Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya for meeting Warsaw’s liberal mayor. Tsikhanouskaya met Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, a member of Poland’s biggest opposition party, during a visit to Warsaw this week which she used to call for increased …

Germany has refused to issue any further permits for flights arriving from Russia in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow failed to extend German airline Lufthansa’s flight permissions, the German transport ministry said on Wednesday. The dispute follows European Union moves to stop Russia-bound flights from crossing Belarusian air space after …

Stoltenberg says Belarus to be punished over flight diversion as shock grows after an activist stabbed himself in Minsk court. Pressure mounted on Belarus on Wednesday as NATO’s chief called for sanctions to be implemented after Minsk’s controversial flight diversion, and as shock rose over an activist’s apparent suicide attempt …

Personnel at Belarus’ diplomatic mission to NATO will have their access restricted at the alliance’s headquarters, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, following the forced landing of a passenger plane by Minsk. Belarus is not a member of NATO but has had ties with the military alliance since 1992 following …

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko flew into Russia on Friday to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin amid an uproar in Europe over the dramatic grounding of a passenger jet in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident blogger. The talks in the Black Sea city of Sochi were organised before …

Austria on Thursday slammed Russia after it refused to allow an Austrian Airlines flight to be rerouted to avoid Belarusian airspace, resulting in the Vienna-Moscow service being cancelled. “Based on a recommendation by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Austrian Airlines has suspended flights through Belarusian airspace until further notice. …

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday a journalist pulled off a plane that was forced to land in Minsk had been plotting a rebellion, and he accused the West of waging a hybrid war against him. In his first public remarks since a Belarusian warplane intercepted a Ryanair flight …