Foreign detractors are waging a hybrid war against Belarus, treating it as a testing ground before their "attack on the East", said self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, speaking in the Belarusian parliament.

According to him, the real goal of "Western strategists" is Russia, against which "one well-known extremist channel, which was born from Belarusian problems, is already actively working."

"We are on the front line of not just a cold but already an icy war," …

EU countries have decided to expand economic sanctions against Belarus, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a two-day summit in Brussels.

The forced landing of a Ryanair flight to detain the founder and former chief executive of the opposition Telegram channel Nexta, Roman Protasevich, which the official Minsk initially attributed to Alexander Lukashenko's personal order and then tried to blame the alleged bomb threat from the Palestinian Hamas movement, is an "unacceptable violation of …

Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko said the Russian penal service was right in proposing to use prison labor on large construction sites.

The Russian government believes that "correctional centers" can be set up on large construction sites and prisoners with the necessary qualifications will perform construction work.

At the same time, according to the minister, it is necessary to move quickly and "create workplaces in all directions”, including large investment projects, which …

Three long-range Tu-22M3 bombers landed at a Russian air base in Syria. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Tu-22M3 bombers arrived at Khmeimim airbase for the first time. The Russian Defense Ministry added that the arrival of the bombers was possible after the upgrade of the second runway. The runway was lengthened, received new coating and new lighting and radio equipment were installed on it. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the airbase can now be used by aircraft of all …

The national airline of Belarus, Belavia, announced that flights to London and Paris were discontinued from 25 May to 30 October 2021. According to Belavia’s press service, this is due to "the decision of the Governments of Great Britain and France to ban Belavia flights to and from the UK and France".

"We are saddened by the current situation, which cannot be changed. We apologise to passengers," Belavia’s statement reads. Those who bought tickets for flights in these directions will be given …

Lukashenko’s special operation to force the landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk using combat aviation risks turning into a tightening of Western sanctions against Belarus, including expulsion from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and ban on civil flights over its territory.

The operation, which resulted in the detention of Roman Protasevich, founder and former editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel NEXTA, is an act of "state terrorism," Manfred Weber, head of the European …

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss cooperation on Crimea with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky not the ownership of Crimea, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov on air of Rossiya 1 TV channel.

"If we discuss Crimea in terms of the development of cross-border cooperation, you know, Russia has cross-border cooperation with other countries, in this regard, I am sure that Putin will be ready," Peskov said.

Peskov added that "no one will ever …

The founder of the opposition Telegram channel Nexta, Roman Protasevich, has been detained in Minsk. Protasevich was on board a Ryanair flight en route from Athens to Vilnius. The plane had to land at the national airport in Minsk after receiving a report that there was an explosive device on board.

On Lukashenko's order, a fighter jet was scrambled to escort the passenger plane with Protasevich on board, reports the pro-government Belarusian Telegram channel "Pool of the First." Lukashenko …