For 27 years, President Alexander Lukashenko has held onto power in Belarus, a former Soviet republic, using increasingly repressive methods. His critics and opponents have gotten louder, and more prominent, since Lukashenko claimed a sixth term following a disputed election in August 2020. Mass arrests, the forced grounding of a European Union flight, and an Olympic sprinter fleeing the team to seek asylum in Poland have all focused international attention on the simmering crisis on the EU’s border.
Protests in Belarus
Bloomberg: Why Belarus targets critics in the streets and skies
Members of the Belarusian diaspora in Ukraine, covered with former national red and white flags of Belarus, march during a rally in Kyiv on Aug. 8, 2021.
