Amendments to Belarus’s religion law are likely to curtail practice and expression of belief by Christians and people of other faiths, according to rights advocates.
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Lukashenka’s succession gambit: Kremlin capitulation or power play?
Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 22. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Office/TASS via REUTERS)
Alyaksandr Lukashenka either just made a bold and brazen power play vis-a-vis Russia or he began laying the groundwork for Moscow’s ultimate takeover of Belarus. Whatever the truth is, the stakes are enormous.
On the eve of his trip to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin last week, the Belarusian strongman released
Pul Pervovo announcing that he had made “the most principled decision of my quarter-of-a-century presidency.” Lukashenka added that the decision “will be serious” and he would “formalize” it soon.
One way to look at Belarus ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s
claim last week that he was the target of a US-backed coup and assassination attempt is that this is just the latest in a series of conspiratorial rants by an increasingly beleaguered dictator.
But as is often the case in the former Soviet Union, upon closer examination, there appears to be at least some method behind all the madness.
Lukashenka’s claim that the plot was approved “by the top political leadership” in the United States came just days after Russia’s Federal Security Service had arrested two Belarusians, including one with US citizenship, and
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