Belarusian
Lithuania begins building barrier on border with Belarus to block migrants
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 consist of concertina and razor wire, the army defence chief’s spokeswoman Ruta Montvile told Reuters. Belarus in May decided to allow migrants to enter EU member Lithuania in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the bloc after Minsk forced a Ryanair flight to land on its soil and arrested a dissident blogger who was on board. “If someone thinks we will close our border with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine and will become a holding site for those running from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq...
Fury over Belarus airliner ‘hijack’ set to dominate EU summit
Fury over the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Belarus has upended the agenda of a European Union summit dinner on Monday, where leaders were due to discuss relations with Russia and Britain but will now also consider punitive steps against Minsk. Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force the civilian aircraft to land on Sunday and then detained an opposition-minded journalist who was among the passengers on board. The diversion of a plane owned by an EU company that was flying between two EU capitals was “an inadmissible step”, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said, and it would be raised at the summit. “The EU will consider the consequences of this action, including taking measures against those responsible,” Josep Bor...
Belarus’s forced landing of Lithuania-bound Ryanair plane sparks outrage
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land on Sunday in Minsk, where a Belarusian opposition activist on board was detained, prompting international condemnation. EU member Lithuania urged the European Union and NATO to respond, Germany called for an immediate explanation and Poland’s prime minister called it a “reprehensible act of state terrorism”. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Belarus’s action was “utterly unacceptable”. The aircraft, flying from Athens to Vilnius, had almost reached Lithuania when it changed direction and was escorted to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, after reports that it had explosives on board, according to an online flight tracker and BelTA state news agency. Belarusian law e...
Tens of thousands in Belarus protest President’s 6th term re-election
Demonstrators massed in central Minsk on Sunday after opposition leaders called for a huge rally to demand the resignation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the latest in a wave of protests against his disputed re-election. The authoritarian leader dispatched his notorious riot police to disperse spontaneous rallies that erupted after he claimed a sixth presidential term in an election two weeks ago that critics say was rigged. Tens of thousands of demonstrators draped in the red-and-white flags of the opposition flooded Independence Square and marched through the capital chanting “freedom” and “we will not forget, we will not forgive” as passing cars honked in support. “We have just two demands: fair elections and stop the violence,” 32-year-old Igor told AFP. Officials issued...
Coronavirus: Two football games in Belarus postponed due to coronavirus fears
Two games in the top two tiers of Belarusian football have been postponed due to coronavirus concerns. The Premier League match between FC Minsk and Neman Grodno – scheduled for May 15 – has been called off, as has the second-division meeting between Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and leaders Lokomotiv Gomel. The country’s football federation confirmed it was because of suspected cases of COVID-19 among the Minsk and Lokomotiv players. No new dates have yet been arranged. Belarus is one of the few European nations in which major sporting competitions have continued despite the spread of the virus. Premier League games have been played, often in front of spectators, while the rest of the continent has largely been forced to suspend all football. All grounds are required to have several sanitiser statio...
