Featured stories about Belarus
Stories about Belarus
The West’s Belarus policy: Does it make sense?
By damaging Belarus’s ability to act on its own and not achieving any positive results, the blockade of Belarus by its Western neighbors has been manifestly counterproductive, leading to excessive dependency on Russia
What a country at war can look like: A journey across Ukraine in photos
Life is flourishing in Ukraine but subtle signs and reminders of the full-scale war can be seen and felt even in the places most distant from the actual frontline.
The Belarus regime’s crackdown on civil society continues
The number of political prisoners in Belarus continues to rise; by the end of June, there were 1,496 individuals languishing behind bars on politically-motivated charges.
‘People in Belarus live in constant terror, fearing a system that can arbitrarily target anyone’
"Our human rights work in Belarus involves direct action. We engage in activities such as collecting resources, learning to purchase necessary items and communicating with the families of political prisoners."
Can poetry in translation reimagine a free Belarusian–Ukrainian bridge?
Belarus is a victim of and a tool for Russia in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Can poetry and translation establish a fragile bridge between Ukraine and free Belarusians?
#FramedinBelarus: An art group makes embroidery depicting the stories of political prisoners
The project aims to create portraits of each illegally convicted citizen in Belarus (political prisoners) using the traditional Belarusian embroidery technique of red thread on a white background
The long 1980s: Belarusian dark wave band Molchat Doma takes its music to the US
"Even though the band hasn’t felt safe declaring their political views directly, their music seems like an oblique commentary on the persistence of totalitarianism."
Ways of punishing dissent in Lukashenka’s Belarus
The regime of Belarusian dictator Lukashenka continues to repress Belarusians in many ways, some of them unheard of since Soviet totalitarianism.
People fleeing from Russia: ‘We were deprived of “home” too’
Valeria considers her story banal: “I left Russia because I can’t and don’t want to be silent, and I don’t want to go to jail for this either.”
Belarusian Westernizers: Their debacle and perpetual bewilderment
Grigory Ioffe writes about the growing rupture between the new Belarusian diaspora and those who remain in the country, as well as the hopeless plight of Belarusian political prisoners.
There are almost 1,500 political prisoners in Belarus
The main tools for repressing critics of the regime and dissidents in Belarus are still criminal and administrative prosecution, arbitrary arrests, dismissals from work and de facto deportations
The band that Lukashenka declared extremist sang ‘Zhyve Belarus’ (Long live Belarus!)
Rarely covered by the international media, Lukashenka’s regime is using Stalin-like repression on its citizens. Dissidents are detained and prosecuted and, in many cases now, their family members are too.
What did the outside world in the 1930s know about the Soviet famine and the ‘Holodomor’ in Ukraine?
Many Ukrainians used social networks to raise awareness of the 1932-1933 Soviet famine as they see the ongoing Russian aggression against their country as a continuation of the same imperial repression.
TikToker Nekoglai was deported from Moscow to Moldova with signs of torture
The “ritual of guilt and shame” has been increasingly used by the Russian police to publicly show the “remorse” and fear of those protesting
‘It is really difficult to see resistance when we don't see pictures of street protests': Interview with Belarusian activist Hanna Liubakova
Famous journalist in exile, Atlantic Council non-resident fellow and media trainer on what the country's opposition media needs to do when there are no visible protests in the dictatorship
Is the European Union applying a practical visa policy on Russia? Interview with activist Almut Rochowanski
We hear a lot of Ukrainian civil society voices, but these are elite voices. For Belarusians, their revolution is still ongoing. For European foreign policy experts, the uprising is over, and it failed.
Lives, interrupted: The human cost of resistance in Belarus
Hanna Liubakova, an associated member of the Atlantic Council, journalist and media trainer, posted a Twitter thread about the most recent and most shocking cases of political prisoners in Belarus
Prague Pride parade is back after a two-year pandemic hiatus: A photo essay
Considered one of the largest in Central Europe, Prague Pride’s parade returned to the streets on August 13 after a two-year hiatus, drawing an estimated 60,000 people.
Croatian citizens and businesses express support for Ukraine in various ways
Protest participants displayed Ukrainian and Croatian flags, shouted slogans and sung Ukrainian songs. The protest also featured banners with photographs comparing Donbas with the siege and bombardment of the Croatian city of Vukovar in 1991.
The battle of identities: Why the Kremlin claims to speak for ‘Russian-speakers’ in Ukraine
Moscow has promoted itself as the protector of Russian-speakers across the post-Soviet space yet many do not identify with Russia. Today it is instrumentalizing a diverse community to attack Ukraine.
What does “Russian World” stand for in Putin’s statements about Ukraine?
The statements of Vladimir Putin about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine frequently include a key expression: “Русский Мир” (Russkiy mir). This phrase literally means the “Russian world”.
