Belarus is not Ukraine, and any comparison would be foolhardy, however it does seem likely that the shocking savagery that the regime of Alexander Lukashenko has unleashed on peaceful protesters, including many teenagers, has backfired

A Belarusian human rights activist has informed Radio Svoboda that the two Ukrainian rights activists brutally detained on 12 August are to face criminal charges over supposed ‘mass riots’.

Belarus does indeed appear to be a new country, one in which opposition to the 65-year-old Lukashenka, who has ruled the country since 1994, is broader and more confident than ever before

The Lukashenko regime is brutally seeking to crush the huge public protest against the rigged elections on 9 August, with the West at present falling very short of threatening real measures in response

There were scenes of violence late on Sunday evening from the centre of Minsk, with police and military using rubber bullets, stun grenades, tear gas and water cannons at what appeared to be peaceful protesters

A Russian court has ignored overwhelming evidence that the sole organizer of the so-called ‘Novoye Velichiye’ or ‘New Greatness’ ‘extremist organization’ was an FSB infiltrator and has sentenced three young men to long prison sentences and handed down a further four suspended sentences

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has succeeded in blocking access by Memorial Society historians to information identifying eleven Soviet prosecutors who, as members of the notorious NKVD ‘troikas’, took part in ordering executions during the Great Terror of 1937-38

Vladimir Putin has signed into force a law which seems clearly aimed at silencing all voices reporting on the torture, falsifications, provocations and other violations committed by Russian FSB or security service bodies in occupied Crimea or Russia

33 fighters from the notorious Wagner ‘private military company’ have been in custody in Belarus since 29 July after they were very publicly seized by the Belarusian KGB

Russia has already stolen almost six years of Valentin Vyhivsky’s life and there is little movement on an exchange to give the Ukrainian political prisoner some hope as he turns 37 on 3 August.

All is not well for Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka ahead of an August 9 election in which he is seeking a new term.

Human Rights Watch demands that the authorities be held accountable for Azimjon Askarov’s needless death

A Russian court has sentenced 64-year-old Yuri Dmitriev to three and a half years’ imprisonment on one of four charges he was facing, acquitting him on the others

The verdict is due on 22 July in what a huge number of prominent Russians have called one of the grubbiest political trials in the country

Vladimir Shypytsin could face a 5-year prison sentence after his Ukrainian flag knocked the cap off the police officer who was roughly trying to detain him for a perfectly peaceful picket on 18 July in support of Crimean Tatar political prisoners

World leaders, professionals and tourists beware – a visit to Russia could get you imprisoned for up to 10 years

Even by modern Russian standards, the ‘Novoye Velichiye’ case stands out since the 10 victims, including a 17-year-old girl, were accused of organizing an ‘extremist organization’ which was, in fact, entirely created by an FSB infiltrator.

A top challenger to Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been barred from running in the country’s election next month amid growing public discontent over the Belarusian authoritarian leader’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic

A week after a fake referendum was used to push through changes to Russia’s Constitution, a draft bill has been introduced aimed at criminalizing any suggestion that Russia should return annexed Crimea to Ukraine

Russia’s cynical rerun of its trial of world-renowned historian of the Soviet Terror, Yuri Dmitriev, is coming to an end with the prosecutor on 7 July demanding a 15-year sentence in a maximum security prison