Since 2020, Belarus and Russia have accelerated moves towards integration.
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By allowing Russian military presence in Belarus, president Aliaksandr Lukashenka has forfeited his country’s sovereignty.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, left, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 18, 2022.
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Belarus’ alliance with Russia is a strategic factor in the Ukraine war. The country’s long-term dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has indicated he will do as Russian President Vladimir Putin says.
Protests have highlighted Lukashenko’s aggression toward dissent.
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Recent actions against critics of the Belarusian government show that Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent is extending beyond the country’s borders.
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Questions remain as to Moscow’s part in the incident.
Belarusian security personnel conduct a search of the Ryanair flight from which they took dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.
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Can Belarus claim to have been within its rights to divert a Ryanair flight and detain passengers?
Thorn in Lukashenko’s side: Roman Protasevich arrested at a rally in Minsk, March 2017.
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Fears grow for the young dissident journalist after he was taken off a Ryanair flight.
Russian police officers beat people protesting the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Jan. 23, 2021 in Moscow.
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And there’s not too much the rest of the world can do to stop them.
In exile or prison: Belarus opposition figures Svetlana Tikhanovsksaya, Veronika Tsepkalo and Maria Kolesnikova.
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Opposition protests continue and there are signs they are beginning to have an effect both inside and outside Belarus.