Day: August 18, 2020

European leaders urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to push for dialogue in neighbouring Belarus on Tuesday, as opposition supporters protested President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed election win for a 10th day. Thousands of demonstrators gathered on Independence Square in central Minsk on Tuesday evening waving the red-and-white flags of the opposition and calling on Lukashenko to…

Belarus’s largest protest rally in recent history was held on Aug. 16 as tens of thousands of Belarusians rallied in the capital city of Minsk. Protests against the country’s disputed presidential election and a bloody crackdown on the opposition have taken place every day since the Aug. 9 vote.

Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday accused the opposition of attempting to seize power in the wake of mass protests against disputed presidential elections in which he claimed victory and a sixth term. During a meeting of his security council, Lukashenko said the opposition’s creation of a Coordination Council was “an attempt to seize power,”…

The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption council on Tuesday urged Russia to boost efforts against graft among members of its parliament, judges and prosecutors. The European rights watchdog’s GRECO anti-corruption body said there had been some progress, but “work is still needed.” “The transparency of the legislative process still needs strengthening, with public consultations on bills becoming the…

A Russian major general was killed and two servicemen wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near a Russian convoy in eastern Syria on Tuesday, news agencies quoted the defense ministry as saying. The ministry said the device went off while the convoy was returning from a humanitarian operation near the city of Deir…

Belarusian state-owned news agency Belta has circulated a video on social media slamming protests against President Alexander Lukashenko that uses a 2019 photograph from Spain to depict violence. The minute-long video set to sinister music calls protesters “bought-out and sold-out scum” and “animals,” and includes an image of demonstrators walking in front of street fires…

Protesters rallied outside a prison in Minsk on Tuesday where the husband of Belarus’s main opposition figure is being held, as protests against disputed presidential elections entered their 10th day. Several hundred people gathered outside the walls of the detention center to mark the 42nd birthday of Sergei Tikhanovsky, a popular blogger who was imprisoned…

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has handed out medals to more than 300 members of the security forces for “impeccable service” days after a violent crackdown on post-election protesters. Up to 7,000 people have been detained, hundreds injured and two have died in the days of protests against the Aug. 9 election results which showed an…

During his weekly YouTube talk show Thursday, Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny summed up how Russia’s opposition feels about the protests that are raging on either end of the post-Soviet space with one of the internet’s most popular memes: the distracted boyfriend.  In the version of the meme the de facto Russian opposition leader shared, the…

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on…

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has tested positive for coronavirus, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Tuesday. Novak is at least the fifth Russian cabinet member to contract Covid-19 since the outbreak hit the country in March. He had been set to accompany Mishustin on a working trip to Russia’s Far East this week when he…