Former #Poland judge Tomasz Szmydt asked for an asylum in #Belarus claiming he was discriminated for his political position and disagreement towards “unfriendly relations with Belarus”. Szmydt is a former husband of Emilia Szmydt, main suspect in the “hater scandal” where a group of PiS-nominated judges, lawyers and activists performed coordinated bullying against judiciary officials who didn’t want to comply with PiS party line.
By the way, the last #Poland defector to #Belarus was Emil Czeczko, a Polish low-rank soldier, who illegally crossed the border into Belarus in 2021 and asked for an asylum. He had a few minor appearances on Belarussian TV shows and hanged himself in 2022 in Minsk (that’s the official Belarussian version).
A private company linked to self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander #Lukashenko is building a huge residence with a hotel, restaurant complex and chalets in the mountains near #Sochi in #Russia's #Krasnodar Krai.
A group of 40 countries initially threatened to boycott the #Paris 2024 #Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes were to participate. But the steam appears to have run out.
Time is running out to prevent Russia and #Belarus from participating in this summer’s competition. With the IOC unwilling to stop these athletes from participating in the 2024 Olympic Games, the international community must now decide how to proceed.
The International Red Cross movement has decided not to suspend membership of the Russian Red Cross (#RRC), despite potential breaches of neutrality regulations brought to light by an investigation by a group of international media outlets, including the Guardian.
Research showed what appeared to be numerous violations of the Red Cross charter by the Russian organisation since the launch of the full-scale invasion of #Ukraine in February 2022.
#Poland court sentenced one #Belarus citizen to 3 years in prison for spying for #Russia GRU, while the other was acquitted. The judge cleared the second detained man and explained the evidence provided by the prosecutor was circumstantial and based mostly on the fact that he was periodically meeting the primary suspect but not any actual evidence of spying activity. The evidence against the primary suspect however was strong and clearly demonstrated he supplied information to GRU.
Belarusian authorities are preparing children for war with the #EU
In orphanages, schools, and camps, the military teaches children how to handle weapons.
These children are covered by the Belarusian state program "Lessons of Courage", which is aimed at the total militarization of the younger generation. They think that what adults in uniform are doing to them, preparing them for war is right.
I recently saw a conversation between two people I respect that ended poorly. This being a social platform, shortage of mutual understanding is not surprising. Most of the time, I just back away slowly, but this time, the topic is important enough, and I think I can see a framing that can help make conversations about it less antagonistic.
For a protest organizer, the main asset to protect is their ability to reach people. The main threats to that are censorship, ranking algorithms, and network effects. If #TikTok is where they can reach the most people, they're going to use that.
Same thing happened with #Telegram in #Belarus in 2020: it attracted more people to the protests, even though in the end it burned many with its weak security. Would it be better if protests didn't happen at all, due to lack of reach? Not really. 3/
Russia seems to wants war against NATO badly. I’m reminded of a certain Mainila and some claimed shots, which preceeded Soviet attack into Finland in 1939.
Horrified. They’ve really drunk the koolaid over at Putinstan.
🥴 Lukashenko: "Belarusian opposition and its curators plan to seize the Kobrynskyi district of Belarus, announce a new government and appeal to NATO for the deployment of troops!"
Sorry , but it seems that Lukaschenko made a little error.
It is the complete Brest region . The area of the region was part of the Second Polish Republic from 1921 until 1939 largely as the Polesie Voivodeship. And previously part of Lithuania in 1319
We can also play the game of ´this is our historic territory’ .
Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has instructed newly appointed Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister Sergei Maslyak to search for oil in the country.
Self-proclaimed Belarusian president orders minister to search for oil in Belarus: “You have to dig” (www.pravda.com.ua)
Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has instructed newly appointed Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister Sergei Maslyak to search for oil in the country.