MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, but he said he didn’t expect the 10-week-old conflict to “drag on this way.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has closed the U.S. Embassy in Belarus and is allowing non-essential staff at the U.S. Embassy in Russia to leave the country due to the war in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the suspension of operations at the Minsk embassy and the authorized departure from Moscow in a statement on Monday.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — One by one, U.N. Security Council members called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine. Even Russia’s deputy foreign minister said everything should be done to find a diplomatic solution.
MOSCOW (AP) — A peace agreement for the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has never quite ended is back in the spotlight amid a Russian military buildup near the country's borders and rising tensions about whether Moscow will invade.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's security chief warned the West on Monday against forcing the country to fulfill a peace deal for eastern Ukraine brokered by France and Germany, charging that an attempt to implement it could trigger internal unrest that would benefit Moscow.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. prosecutors charged four Belarusian government officials on Thursday with aircraft piracy for diverting a Ryanair flight last year to arrest an opposition journalist, using a ruse that there was a bomb threat.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Authorities in Belarus raided the homes of dozens of journalists and activists Wednesday, according to a human rights group, in what appeared to be the biggest one-day crackdown on dissent in the past three months.
DOHUK, Iraq (AP) — The smuggler had said the car would come in 10 minutes, but Zaid Ramadan had been waiting in the dense forest straddling the Poland-Belarus border for three hours, desperate for signs of headlights in the mist — and a new life in Europe.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian authorities say they have helped more than 100 migrants leave the country on Monday and more are prepared to leave Tuesday, a statement that comes after almost two weeks of tensions at Belarus' border with Poland, where hundreds of people remain stuck.
DOHUK, Iraq (AP) — Khari Hasan Kalo peered out of the window of the repatriation flight as it touched down in northern Iraq. It's a place he and his family had hoped never to see again after they left for Belarus two months ago, driven by dreams of a new life in Europe.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Hundreds of migrants who were camped in the cold on the Poland-Belarus border have been moved to a nearby warehouse in Belarusian territory, reports said Wednesday, with some still harboring hopes of entering the European Union.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish police said Saturday that the body of a young Syrian man was found in the woods near the border with Belarus, the latest victim in a political standoff at the European Union's eastern border.
DOHUK, Iraq (AP) — Sarkawt Ismat was cold, hungry and terrified, trapped between Polish and Belarusian troops facing off on opposite sides of the European Union’s eastern border.
The 19-year-old Iraqi taxi driver is among thousands from the Middle East who have been trying to cross into the EU in recent months through a backdoor opened by non-EU member Belarus.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia's foreign minister said he discussed the Russian media situation in Belarus during a visit to the country on Thursday following the arrest of a journalist who worked for a top Russian newspaper.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian authorities on Wednesday blocked access to another news site, the latest in a series of steps restricting independent media in the country after it was shaken by a wave of anti-government protests.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Council of Europe on Monday awarded its major human rights prize to jailed Belarus opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, who was arrested last year after she tore up her passport at the border to prevent her forced expulsion from the country.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is sending 500 additional army troops and special vehicles to its border with Belarus to strengthen it against increasing migrant pressures which the government says is orchestrated by Belarus and Russia to destabilize the European Union.
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium players Yannick Carrasco, Axel Witsel and Thibaut Courtois have been released back to their clubs ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Belarus on Wednesday.
The trio did not travel with the squad to Kazan, Russia, where the game was switched due to sanctions against the Minsk government.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A court in Belarus on Monday sentenced two leading opposition activists to lengthy prison terms, the latest move in the relentless crackdown that Belarusian authorities have unleashed on dissent in the wake of last year’s anti-government protests.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s parliament voted Monday to uphold the state of emergency along the border with Belarus that was declared last week amid migration pressure.
The vote came after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told lawmakers that the country faces a threat from Russia and Belarus as he sought support for the state of emergency, which was declared last week by President Andrzej Duda — a step unprecedented in the country's post-communist history.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's prime minister insisted Tuesday that efforts by Middle Eastern migrants to enter the European Union country from neighboring Belarus are part of a plot by the Minsk regime to sow political instability in the EU.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Leading members of the Belarusian opposition went on trial Wednesday, part of a multi-pronged crackdown on dissent in the ex-Soviet nation that was rocked by months of protests over a disputed presidential election.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Belgium and Wales will go to neutral Russia to face Belarus in World Cup qualifying games because of travel sanctions imposed after a commercial passenger flight was diverted to Minsk.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Belarusian Association of Journalists on Thursday called on authorities in Belarus to transfer a jailed journalist to a civilian hospital so he could get treatment for a coronavirus-induced pneumonia he has reportedly developed in detention.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Authorities in Belarus raided offices of an independent newspaper and detained three of its journalists Monday as part of a relentless crackdown on media outlets and civil society activists.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Authorities in Belarus raided the homes and offices of independent media outlets and civil society activists Friday, widening a crackdown on opposition in the ex-Soviet nation.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Authorities in Belarus raided the offices and homes of dozens of human rights activists and journalists Wednesday in a sweeping crackdown a day after the country's authoritarian president promised to “deal with” non-governmental organizations that he accuses of fomenting unrest.
VEREBIEJAI, Lithuania (AP) — Mustafa Hussein Hamad kicked a dirty ball between two old tires in the schoolyard where he spends most of his time. He and dozens of other migrants are fenced in at an old school after walking at night through the thick woods into Lithuania from neighboring Belarus.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed Friday that his government has thwarted a series of purported Western-backed plots, and ordered the border with Ukraine fully closed over alleged weapons smuggling.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Tuesday proposed sharp restrictions on travel between the U.S. and Belarus, the latest fallout from the forced landing of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident Belarussian journalist.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The dissident Belarusian journalist and his Russian girlfriend who were arrested after being pulled off a flight that was diverted to Minsk have been transferred from jail to house arrest — a move the country’s exiled opposition leader said Friday was positive but still left them “hostages.”
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union slapped economic sanctions on Belarus on Thursday in response to what the bloc called the “escalation of serious human rights violations” including the detention of journalist Raman Pratasevich.
BRUSSELS (AP) — When authorities in Belarus diverted a Ryanair passenger jet to Minsk last month to arrest a dissident journalist who was aboard, their goal may have been to silence a troublesome government critic and send a message to others like him.