Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko visits Moscow, enacting a safety treaty and signing a variety of agreements that pull Belarus additional into Russia’s orbit.
U.S. President Donald Trump slashes RFE/RL funding in one other blow to Belarusian media in exile.
Latvia restricts motion ultimately open border crossing with Belarus amid migration
considerations.
Japanese citizen sentenced to seven years in Belarus on trumped up prices of spying.
Poland and the Baltic states search to withdraw from the anti-personnel mine ban treaty.
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Lukashenko, Putin meet in Moscow, enact Union State safety treaty
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko made a three-day state go to to Moscow that ended on March 15 – his first official go to overseas following his so-called "re-election” in January. The go to additionally occurred earlier than the Belarusian autocrat was formally inaugurated because the nation’s head of state.
Following talks, Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin enacted the Union State treaty, which the edges have dubbed as “safety ensures.” Signed on Dec. 6, 2024, and ratified in late February, the treaty expands Russia’s navy presence in Belarus in alternate for the Kremlin opening its “nuclear umbrella” over Belarus.
The treaty is broadly seen as ceding Belarus’s sovereignty over its protection and international coverage. Since utilizing Moscow’s help to crush mass protests triggered by election fraud in 2020, Lukashenko has been largely lower off from the West, and has more and more relied on Moscow to maintain him in energy and to help Belarus’s sanctioned financial system.
Now, deeply depending on Russia, Belarus is offering logistical and navy help for Moscow’s battle towards Ukraine. A minimum of 287 Belarusian enterprises provide the Russian battle machine, in response to Belarusian democratic chief in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Addressing the Russian Federation Council, Lukashenko stated there had been an erosion of Belarusian sovereignty, including that Belarus wouldn’t formally merge with Russia within the close to future.
“If we have been to burst by way of this open door, we might smash every little thing we have now finished. It’s essential to go calmly, step-by-step,” Lukashenko stated.
Following his speech, Moscow accepted an settlement to delay Belarus’s reimbursement of almost $800 million in money owed. Belarus’s whole money owed to Russia stand at $8 billion.
RFE/RL journalist and political analyst Yury Drakakhrust described the extremely managed but formally nonetheless unbiased Belarus for instance of the Kremlin’s desired mannequin for relations with post-Soviet nations — together with Ukraine.
The Russian and Belarusian dictators additionally signed an settlement granting rights to Russian and Belarusian residents completely residing in one another’s territories to vote in native elections, additional deepening the combination processes between the 2 states.
One other settlement signed throughout Lukashenko’s go to was devoted to the mutual safety of residents “unjustly persecuted by international states or worldwide justice our bodies.” The doc incorporates a pledge “to collectively fight the damaging pattern of the politicization of worldwide authorized cooperation in felony issues.”
The Worldwide Legal Court docket (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian human rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023 over their involvement within the compelled deportation of Ukrainian kids from Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine. The specter of an ICC warrant can be hanging over Lukashenko after Lithuania referred a case towards him to the court docket in September 2024. Human rights teams corresponding to Reporters With out Borders and the Worldwide Accountability Platform for Belarus have additionally submitted proof on the regime’s alleged crimes.
Like Russia, Belarus has abused Interpol’s Purple Discover mechanism, utilizing it to search out the regime’s political opponents overseas.
The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek
Trump’s defunding of RFE/RL offers one other blow to Belarusian media in exile
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko made a three-day state go to to Moscow that ended on March 15 – his first official go to overseas following his so-called "re-election” in January. The go to additionally occurred earlier than the Belarusian autocrat was formally inaugurated because the nation’s head of state.
Following talks, Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin enacted the Union State treaty, which the edges have dubbed as “safety ensures.” Signed on Dec. 6, 2024, and ratified in late February, the treaty expands Russia’s navy presence in Belarus in alternate for the Kremlin opening its “nuclear umbrella” over Belarus.
The treaty is broadly seen as ceding Belarus’s sovereignty over its protection and international coverage. Since utilizing Moscow’s help to crush mass protests triggered by election fraud in 2020, Lukashenko has been largely lower off from the West, and has more and more relied on Moscow to maintain him in energy and to help Belarus’s sanctioned financial system.
Now, deeply depending on Russia, Belarus is offering logistical and navy help for Moscow’s battle towards Ukraine. A minimum of 287 Belarusian enterprises provide the Russian battle machine, in response to Belarusian democratic chief in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Addressing the Russian Federation Council, Lukashenko stated there had been an erosion of Belarusian sovereignty, including that Belarus wouldn’t formally merge with Russia within the close to future.
“If we have been to burst by way of this open door, we might smash every little thing we have now finished. It’s essential to go calmly, step-by-step,” Lukashenko stated.
Following his speech, Moscow accepted an settlement to delay Belarus’s reimbursement of almost $800 million in money owed. Belarus’s whole money owed to Russia stand at $8 billion.
RFE/RL journalist and political analyst Yury Drakakhrust described the extremely managed but formally nonetheless unbiased Belarus for instance of the Kremlin’s desired mannequin for relations with post-Soviet nations — together with Ukraine.
The Russian and Belarusian dictators additionally signed an settlement granting rights to Russian and Belarusian residents completely residing in one another’s territories to vote in native elections, additional deepening the combination processes between the 2 states.
One other settlement signed throughout Lukashenko’s go to was devoted to the mutual safety of residents “unjustly persecuted by international states or worldwide justice our bodies.” The doc incorporates a pledge “to collectively fight the damaging pattern of the politicization of worldwide authorized cooperation in felony issues.”
The Worldwide Legal Court docket (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian human rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023 over their involvement within the compelled deportation of Ukrainian kids from Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine. The specter of an ICC warrant can be hanging over Lukashenko after Lithuania referred a case towards him to the court docket in September 2024. Human rights teams corresponding to Reporters With out Borders and the Worldwide Accountability Platform for Belarus have additionally submitted proof on the regime’s alleged crimes.
Like Russia, Belarus has abused Interpol’s Purple Discover mechanism, utilizing it to search out the regime’s political opponents overseas.
Trump’s defunding of RFE/RL offers one other blow to Belarusian media in exile
Seventy years of U.S.-backed broadcasts selling democracy worldwide might come to an finish after U.S. President Donald Trump on March 14 signed an government order eliminating seven federal companies, together with the U.S. Company for International Media (USAGM), which oversees RFE/RL and Voice of America (VoA).
For Belarus media in exile, the order serves one other main blow to the unbiased press, which have been outlawed in Belarus and compelled into exile. An earlier USAID funding lower in January affected round two-thirds of Belarusian shops, with about 20% pushed to the brink of closure, in response to the unbiased Belarusian Affiliation of Journalists (BAJ).
Trump’s government order put 1,300 VoA workers on administrative go away and terminated the U.S. Congress-authorized grant for RFE/RL. In response, on March 19, RFE/RL filed a lawsuit towards USAGM and its officers to dam the funding halt. To date, the Belarusian service of RFE/RL continues to function, though some freelancers have been let go.
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus stated that canceling the group’s funding “can be a large reward to America’s enemies.” Propagandists in Russia, in the meantime, celebrated the choice.
RFE/RL launched its protection in Belarusian in 1954. Not like in Ukraine or Russia, the Belarusian service of RFE/RL was by no means permitted to open an official bureau in Belarus and was by no means granted FM broadcasting rights. In December 2021, the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko formally deemed the Belarusian service to be an “extremist group.”
The unbiased journalism fostered on the Belarusian service of RFE/RL kickstarted the event of the media business in Belarus — the service’s first correspondent on the territory of the then Soviet Belarus, Ales Lipai, later based the primary unbiased Belarusian information company, BelaPAN.
Past being among the many few Belarusian-language media, Radio Liberty is the final outlet preserving pre-Soviet spelling and grammar norms, which have been later altered to make written Belarusian extra just like Russian. The shutdown of Belarusian Radio Liberty would eradicate this norm from public use.
Belarusian opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stated shedding RFE/RL and VoA can be a “grave mistake,” calling them “symbols of the free world.”
Former RFE/RL journalists Ihar Karnei and Ihar Losik stay behind bars in Belarus, serving sentences of greater than three and 15 years, respectively. One other Belarusian correspondent, Andrei Kuznechyk, was lately freed in a U.S.-brokered prisoner launch. Belarusian propaganda aired interviews with the prisoners in an try to undermine Radio Liberty’s protection of the 2020 anti-government protests in Belarus.
Since strangling widespread protests towards the rigged 2020 presidential elections, the Lukashenko regime has raided and shut down unbiased shops, blocked web sites, and jailed 41 journalists and media employees. Thirty-three media employees have been labeled extremists, and 12 have been declared to be “terrorists.” Donating to or promoting with one of many 38 banned media is punishable by as much as 5 years in jail.
About 400 media employees have fled Belarus, counting on international grants to maintain their newsrooms working in exile.
EU international coverage chief Kaja Kallas stated EU international ministers mentioned the functioning of RFE/RL at a gathering in Brussels on March 17. The bloc can not robotically fund Radio Free Europe, she stated, including that the EU will look into potential choices.
Ten European nations backed the proposal to fund RFE/RL, Czech Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvorak introduced on March 18. Czech International Minister Jan Lipavsky didn’t rule out that the European Union would possibly purchase Radio Free Europe from america.
The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek
Latvia restricts motion on sole remaining border crossing with Belarus
The Latvian authorities, looking for to forestall the influx of unlawful migrants into the nation from Belarus, on March 19 restricted visitors throughout the nation's solely remaining border crossing with Belarus for motorized autos.
Related measures prolong to the 2 checkpoints on the Latvian-Russian border.
Belarus orchestrated a man-made migration disaster in 2021 by channeling flows of almost 8,000 irregular migrants from the Center East, Africa, and Asia to Belarus's borders with the EU. The disaster was reignited with the Kremlin's backing in 2022, prompting Poland and the Baltic states to declare it a "hybrid assault" aimed toward destabilizing the area.
Latvia's determination prohibits pedestrians and bicycles from crossing the border at Patarnieki-Hryharouschyna, the final working border put up between Latvia and Belarus, for six months. In response to Border Guard Chief Guntis Puyats, the opportunity of a full shutdown will not be dominated out if the irregular migration move once more turns into essential.
The Latvian State Border Guard requested that the federal government approve the partial closure on March 17, following a nine-hour halt of operations on the checkpoint as a result of menace of irregular migration.
In response to Puyats, border officers determined to dam all visitors motion on the border after they seen about 30 migrants, predominantly males aged between 20 and 35, with no visas or residence permits, who have been looking for to cross the border.
"We perceive that that is an instrumentalization of migration," the border guard chief stated on air on Latvian TV3.
The Belarusian State Border Committee stated that the short-term visitors block had been brought on by "a bunch of Africans touring to the European Union with legitimate paperwork," with out specifying whether or not the foreigners really had visas to enter the EU.
Latvia's State Border Guard has stopped 254 unlawful border crossing makes an attempt from Belarusian territory for the reason that starting of 2025. In 2024, in response to border guards knowledge aggregated by the unbiased information outlet Pozirk, there have been round 30,000 border crossing makes an attempt — 14% lower than in 2023 — with 85% of the makes an attempt occurring on the Polish-Belarusian border. For the reason that onset of the bogus migration disaster, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland have constructed bodily limitations alongside their land borders with Belarus and shut down a number of border crossings.
The Latvian authorities is actively discouraging its residents from touring to Belarus. Two proposals have been submitted to parliament in February to ban journey firms from organizing journeys to Russia and Belarus and to ban passenger transportation with every of the 2 nations.
Japanese citizen sentenced to 7 years on politically motivated prices in Belarus
After subjecting Japanese citizen Masatoshi Nakanishi to trial on alleged “undercover actions,” a Belarusian court docket sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment, the utmost time period for the offense, the Belarusian Prosecutor Common’s Press Workplace reported on March 17.
A key Russian ally, Belarus has intensified the persecution of international nationals for the reason that starting of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, in response to the Viasna Human Rights Middle. A minimum of 19 foreigners have been tried and sentenced in Belarus for “undercover actions” — a vaguely outlined act of “cooperation” with a variety of international or worldwide entities.
The court docket convicted Nakanishi for allegedly taking on 9,000 images of civilian and navy infrastructure, together with navy and railway amenities. Belarusian authorities additionally claimed Nakanishi traveled to the Ukrainian border. The court docket imposed the utmost doable jail sentence and a high-quality of round $6,500.
In response to a documentary aired on Belarusian state-run TV, Nakanishi lives in Homiel, a regional middle close to Belarus’s border with Ukraine, and was formally employed as a Japanese language teacher on the native college. The primary information of his arrest was revealed in September 2024, though he was really arrested in July 2024.
Jailed international nationals are sometimes used as bargaining chips by the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In August 2024, Belarus launched a German citizen, Rico Krieger, who had been subjected to a swift trial and sentenced to capital punishment on prices together with “undercover actions.” Lukashenko “pardoned” Krieger and launched him as a part of a historic East-West prisoner swap in August 2024, aiding Moscow in returning the Russian killer Vadim Krasikov from jail in Germany.
In 2022, Swiss-Belarusian twin nationwide Natallia Hersche was launched after a year-and-a-half in a Belarusian jail following “intense efforts” by Switzerland’s Federal Division of International Affairs. Swiss newspaper Der Bund linked the appointment of a Swiss ambassador to Belarus in February 2022 to the releasing of Hersche.
Belarus nonetheless holds round 1,200 political prisoners, no less than 36 of them foreigners, underneath a variety of politically motivated prices.
Estonian citizen Alan Royo was prosecuted for slandering Lukashenko and founding an extremist formation, whereas Latvian citizen Jurijs Ganins was charged on March 13 with discrediting Belarus, calling for sanctions, and insulting Lukashenko.
Poland, Baltics to withdraw from anti-personnel mine treaty
The protection ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, the EU member states bordering Belarus and Russia, have unanimously advisable that their nations withdraw from the Ottawa Conference banning using anti-personnel mines.
The ministers reasoned that Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine and its ongoing threats to the Euro-Atlantic group had basically modified the safety scenario within the area for the reason that ratification of the Ottawa Conference.
“With this determination, we’re sending a transparent message: our nations are ready and might use each obligatory measure to defend our territory and freedom,” reads an announcement revealed by Poland’s Ministry of Nationwide Protection.
Regardless of withdrawing from the conference, the nations say they’d uphold their commitments to worldwide humanitarian regulation, together with defending civilians throughout armed battle.
The choice nonetheless requires approval by the nations’ parliaments.
Whereas all EU member states have ratified the treaty, Russia and america haven’t. Neither was Russia a signatory of the conference banning cluster munitions, a weapon broadly used within the Russia-Ukraine battle. Lithuania voted to withdraw from the conference banning using cluster munitions earlier in March.
The transfer to withdraw from the anti-personnel mine ban treaty indicators a shift within the front-line NATO states’ protection insurance policies within the wake of Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine. Each the Kremlin and Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and his navy officers have lately repeatedly used hostile rhetoric in relation to NATO member-states.
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy
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