Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged Tuesday to beat the latest surge in COVID-19 cases that has hit the nation, and he urged the Spanish people to remain “alert but serene” as the country works to flatten the increase.In a televised speech, Sanchez told the nation that Spain’s total number of infections hit 405,436 during a surge last week, which the Health Ministry reports was the worst week for infections since the pandemic’s peak in late March.Sanchez said the trend is “worrying” but urged people to remain calm, because the COVID-19 rate is “far from the situation in mid-March,” when the government imposed a state of emergency.Insufficient tracking of the outbreaks has been identified by experts as one of Spain’s main failures in dealing with the aftermath of the first virus wave. To address that situation, Sanchez announced 2,000 military personal trained to carry out contact tracing will be made available to the country’s 17 regions to help stem the tide of the virus.Sanchez said his government would work with the governments of the autonomous regions to get children back to school safely in September. He also urged citizens to download a government-sponsored contact-tracing phone application, which also can help them with getting tested or quarantined.The prime minister pledged he will not allow COVID-19 to take over the lives of the nation again, saying, “We will beat the curve again, and we have to do it united because there is no other way. We have done it before. We know how to do it, and I am convinced we will do it again.” 
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Russia announced this month it had won the global race to develop the first vaccine against the novel coronavirus. But that self-proclaimed victory – and plans to ramp up production – come amid lingering questions about the safety and effectiveness of the Russian drug. From Moscow, Charles Maynes reports.Video editor: Henry Hernandez
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 The Russian government has dismissed accusations that it was involved in an alleged attack on opposition leader Alexi Navalny after doctors said tests showed he was poisoned. Navalny is in a coma in a German hospital after becoming sick Thursday while on a flight to Moscow from Siberia. He was transferred last Saturday to the Charité hospital in Berlin, where doctors said Monday the tests revealed signs of “cholinesterase inhibitors” in his system. 
 
Cholinesterase is an enzyme that is critical for the normal function of the nervous system in humans, other vertebrates, and in insects. Inhibitors block a chemical, acetylcholine, that transmits signals between nerve cells. Cholinesterase inhibitors are compounds used to alleviate symptoms of dementia, but they also have been found in chemical weapons and pesticides used to kill bugs.FILE – Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, center, his wife Yulia, right of him, and opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, second from left, take part in a march in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, Feb. 29, 2020.Allies of Navalny contend the Kremlin is responsible for his illness, and some are calling for an investigation into whether President Vladimir Putin was involved. 
 
“These accusations absolutely cannot be true and are rather an empty noise,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday in Moscow. Peskov said there is no evidence to warrant an investigation into Navalny’s illness and suggested there could have been various causes.  “If a substance is found, and if it is determined that it is poisoning, then there will be a reason for an investigation,” Peskov said. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, tweeted Tuesday it is not surprising the Russian government is not willing to launch a probe at this time. “It was obvious that the crime would not be properly investigated, and a culprit found. However, we all know perfectly well who that is,” Yarmysh wrote. Experts have said it is premature to conclude how the agent may have entered Navalny’s system.FILE – A police officer stands guard as a scaffolder works at the site of former spy Sergei Skripal’s house, in Salisbury, Britain, Jan. 9, 2019.Some experts have noted that Novichok, the Soviet-era nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain more than two years ago, was a cholinesterase inhibitor. Navalny is a politician and corruption investigator who is one of Putin’s harshest critics. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European officials have requested that Russia conduct a full investigation. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun was expected to raise the issue during a visit to Russia that began Tuesday. 
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Ten people arrested last week in an investigation of the militant Irish nationalist New IRA group have been charged on a range of offenses from directing terrorism to conspiracy to possess explosives, Northern Ireland police said on Monday. The New IRA, one of a small number of active militant groups opposed to Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace deal, have been behind some of the sporadic attacks that have continued, including the murder of journalist Lyra McKee last year. The 10 people, eight men and two women – were charged with a total of 39 offenses as a result of a coordinated investigation with police in Scotland, Ireland and Britain that was also assisted by Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence agency. The New IRA is far smaller than the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which disarmed after the peace accord mostly ended three decades of conflict between mainly Protestant supporters of continued British rule of the province and largely Catholic proponents of unification with the Irish Republic. The group was formed in 2012 after three of the four main militant nationalist groups merged, the first time since the peace deal that most of the disparate nationalist groups still intent on violence came together under one leadership. It has also been responsible for the separate killings of two prison officers since then. 
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Sundays for the Barysevich family are usually a time to catch up on chores and take their two young children to nearby parks and playgrounds. But just weeks after a disputed election in Yauheni Barysevich’s Belarusian homeland, this past Sunday was a time to protest.“The last two weeks have been very different for our family and every Belarusian around the world,” he told VOA.Shortly after breakfast, he set out on foot with his 5-year-old daughter, Lauren, pedaling her bicycle alongside, a big red-and-white Belarusian flag streaming from the back of it.“My wife sewed this flag back in 2006,” Barysevich said, recalling that the now-familiar symbol of protest could not be purchased in the United States at that time. “I have taken it to every Belarusian event in the U.S. It has traveled with me to different states. And now my children know about it and what it signifies.”Many families brought their children (even a pet) to take part in the demonstration in Washington on Aug. 23, 2020. (Natalie Liu/VOA)Barysevich came to the United States from Belarus in 2004 and met his Russian-born wife a year later. The pair, now in their 30s, both work in the IT industry in the Washington area.Barysevich said the march was much more than just a Sunday outing for young Lauren.“This is an important time for Belarus, and I want my daughter to remember it and feel that she was a part of it,” he said.It took Barysevich and Lauren an hour to walk and bike the 3 miles from their home to the Lithuanian embassy, where several hundred people had gathered.Washingtonians marched on Aug. 23, 2020 in support of protesters in Belarus. (Natalie Liu/VOA)After brief remarks, the crowd formed a line in the manner of the “human chain” created by residents of the Baltic states to protest Soviet rule in 1989. They then set off through the midday August heat along 16th Street NW toward the embassy of Belarus.The marchers carried banners saying, “Free Belarus” and “Baltic Way 1989; Freedom Way 2020.” Many passing drivers honked their horns in support.Among the marchers was Roman Vasiliuk, who said he was 18 when he took part in demonstrations in his native Belarus in 2006. Since coming to the United States 14 years ago as a student, he has continued demonstrating for Belarus’ freedom.“Americans do what they can,” but ultimately it is the job of the Belarusian people to bring about change back home, he said, adding that continuous demonstrations and continuous pressure will be crucial.Aleksas Radzius, who drove from Baltimore to Washington to join the protest, said he makes a point of participating in all of the protests aimed at overthrowing dictators.“I was here when [the Baltic states] gained their independence,” said Radzius, who was born in Lithuania and came to America as a 6-year-old in 1950.Roman Vasiliuk, center, Aleksas Radzius, right, and Vytas Pakalniskis came from Virginia and Maryland to take part in the demonstration in support of protesters in Belarus held in Washington, Aug. 23, 2020. (Natalie Liu/VOA)History in the makingThe mostly Eastern European marchers were joined by a number of Americans, including Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO who also served as a special representative on Ukraine negotiations.Explaining that he was there as a private citizen, Volker told VOA that years from now, all the families that had brought their children to the event would remember the day.Volker said he was there, along with other Washingtonians, to let the protesting people of Belarus know that “they’re not alone,” and that there should be no use of force against the peaceful protesters as events unfold there.Dovydas Spokauskas, the deputy chief of mission at the embassy of Lithuania, explained the significance of the human chain formed at the start of Sunday’s protest.“Thirty-one years ago, tens of thousands of Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians went from Vilnius to Tallinn and formed a life chain. That was our way of saying to the Soviet Union that it’s enough, freedom is important for us, nobody was to tell us what to do any more.“We feel that today, it’s the Belarusians who’re telling us the same thing. That’s why no Lithuanian can stay silent or stay idle.”Spokauskas was 8 years old in 1989 when he and his parents took their positions in the line.
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Many of China’s Uighur minority have sought sanctuary in Turkey following China’s crackdown on the largely Muslim Turkic-speaking minority. Observers describe conditions of those detained by the Chinese government as akin to concentration camps.  With Beijing stepping up pressure on Ankara, some Uighur refugees fear for their future in Turkey. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. Produced by: Rod James
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Chants of “Long Live Belarus” echoed through a busy intersection in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove, as people dressed in red and white — the colors of the Belarusian flag — proudly waved their home country’s banner and sang patriotic songs. Local Belarusians, part of Chicago’s large Eastern European community, have been rallying in solidarity with the people of Belarus since that nation’s August 9 election in which President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term over opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya with what officials declared was 80% of the vote. Since then, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the Belarussian capital, Minsk, charging that the election outcome was rigged and demanding the resignation of Lukashenko, whom critics have characterized as “Europe’s last dictator.” “All the power is in the hands of just one person. And what’s on his mind? No one knows,” said Stas Pivavarau, who held red and white balloons. “Against his people, he is prepared to go as far as he can, simply to remain in the seat.” Pivavarau, who moved to Chicago a year ago to be with his parents and brother, had been studying in New Zealand and supported Tsikhanouskaya in the recent election. The Belarusian community in the Chicago area supports protestors in Belarus who have faced violence in the past few weeks at the hands of police, August 22, 2020. (Kulsoom Khan/VOA)“This woman has become a symbol of changes — positive changes,” he said. In Belarus, protests over the election results have been met with violence at the hands of police, including beatings, torture, arrests and detentions. “It’s painful to even watch the pictures of the people, so that’s basically why I’m here,” said Marat Dzekevich, who wore a Belarusian flag on his back. “Even though I’ve lived in the U.S. for 16 years, my heart is still with Belarus.”  Zhanna Charniauskaya, an organizer with a nonprofit cultural organization called Belarusians in Chicago, said the Belarusian people lack basic rights such as freedom of speech, assembly and to protest. The high school chemistry teacher immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 after the breakup of the Soviet Union. She lived in Wisconsin with her husband and children for two years before settling in the Chicago suburbs. “People are politically intimidated,” she said. “If we have a political opinion, and if it’s more or less a public person, they lose their jobs and are put in jail.” BelarusSafety for families back home is a major concern for the Belarusian community in the U.S. Many of Charniauskaya’s relatives, including her brother, sisters-in-law and nephews, have taken part in the protests. Pivavarau said his sister in Belarus is frightened to leave her home. Dzekevich’s nephew in Belarus was walking home with his friends when he was detained by police, jailed and beaten, even though he did not take part in the demonstrations. Dzekevich said the authorities confiscated his nephew’s phone, which left him unable to contact his parents. “Until the morning when he was let out, no one knew where he was, so it was very stressful for my family,” he said. “The police brutality is all over the place. They just lost the sense of humanity in them.” Belarusians in Chicago recently submitted a petition to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. Charniauskaya also plans to send another petition to Senator Tammy Duckworth on behalf of the group. “We will try to reach every representative to create pressure that Congress takes serious steps against the authoritative regime of Lukashenko,” she said. “I hope we have enough strength for the protest not to die down. So, I’m sending the message to our people in Belarus that we’ll be doing whatever is possible here to keep your spirits up. And I want you to know that the world is watching, and the world is giving you a helping hand.” 
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Despite protests from Italy’s central government, the governor of Sicily has ordered all migrant centers on the island be shut down Monday and all migrants be transferred to shelters on the mainland, citing concerns about a new surge of COVID-19 cases. The governor is drawing fire from officials in Italy’s central government, who say he has no authority to do so. The governor of Sicily, Nello Musumeci, issued an order for all migrants to be transferred out of reception centers on the island to others on the mainland, saying it is not possible to guarantee the health measures necessary to prevent COVID-19 infections.Musumeci’s order effectively closed ports on the island to the arrival of migrants vessels of all kinds, including ones operated by charities. Italy’s Interior Ministry reacted saying Musumeci’s order has no value because migration is an issue for the central government.Number of Migrants Landing in Italy More Than Doubles in Past YearIn the 12-month period, more than 5,000 people were rescued in the Mediterranean, according to official data; most came from Tunisia and Libya Musumeci justified his action alleging that neither the Italian government nor Europe has done anything about the increasing arrival of migrants. Sicily, he said, cannot allow what he described as “this invasion” to continue.Musumeci said that every day Sicilians are called to make sacrifices to contain new infections and asked to wear masks, ensure social distancing and adopt all other measures of caution and prevention and then the state amasses migrants in halls (shelters) that become areas of outbreaks.Musumeci said that for two months he has been calling on the government, responsible for migrant policies, to declare a state of emergency on the tiny island of Lampedusa, where for weeks a migrant center has been holding many more migrants than it should be.Some have called the governor of the Sicily region to quit, saying he should resign if he is unable to manage his territory. Other politicians on the right say Musumeci is acting appropriately and blame the migrants’ presence for a rise in the number of infections.    Reports from health officials point to Italian vacationers returning home.On Sunday for the second straight day, Italy registered more than 1,000 new coronavirus infections, the highest number since May 12.  The numbers until recently had dropped to around 200 daily new cases. With the approach of the start to the school year on September 14, authorities are concerned the infection rate will climb further.Health minister Roberto Speranza has made clear the government is not planning new lockdowns. 
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Belarusian authorities arrested two leading opposition activists allegedly helping to spearhead protests in the country, demanding the resignation of longtime President Alexander Lukashenko following a disputed election.The opposition’s Coordination Council said police in the capital, Minsk detained its members Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky on Monday. City police confirmed their detention. People carry a large historical white-red-white flag of Belarus during an opposition demonstration to protest against presidential election results, in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 23, 2020.Tens of thousands of people rallied in the Belarus capital Sunday, despite army warnings, with calls for Lukashenko to resign after the disputed election results, a post-election crackdown, and a heavy military presence in the city.     “Today, we can’t sit back and watch how protests are being held by these sacred places under the flags that fascists organized the mass killings of Belarusians, Russians, Jewish people and other nationalities,” said Defense Minister Victor Khrenin. “We cannot allow this. We categorically warn: any violation of peace and order in such places — you will have the army to deal with now, not the police.”    Protesters, many wearing and waving the opposition’s colors of red and white, chanted “freedom” and “we will not forget, we will not forgive” as they walked in the Minsk city center.     Politician and representative of the Coordination Council for members of the Belarusian opposition Maria Kolesnikova attends a news conference in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 24, 2020.”Our resistance is a marathon, the regime cannot deal with this marathon, but we can. We have the will, strength and support of each other. We should all write, go out, speak out, stand up, complain, be uncooperative, boycott, not agree and keep it up!” said opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova.   The protests have been the biggest challenge yet to Lukashenko’s 26 year rule.  He was declared winner with of the August 9 election that was marred by allegations of fraud. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition candidate who fled to Lithuania after the election and claimed to have won from 60 to 70% of the vote, said Saturday that Belarusians must “struggle for their rights” and not be distracted by Lukashenko’s claims that the country was under military threat.   Protesters briefly gathered near the president’s residence, before dispersing peacefully.    Belarusian state television showed Lukashenko flying over the protesters in a helicopter before landing at his residence and getting out in body armor with a rifle in his hand.    While state media reported about 20,000 protesters took part, opposition-leaning media put the estimate at nearly 100,000 protesters.      Lukashenko has called demonstrators “rats.”      Previously, he has used riot police to disperse rallies, but Reuters witnessed no clashes between police and protesters Sunday.      However, in the 15 days of protests, more than 7,000 people have been detained and hundreds beaten by police. Two people have been killed in the post-election protests in Belarus, it has been confirmed.FILE – Protesters carry a man wounded during clashes with police after the presidential election in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 10.The EU and United States have criticized the vote and condemned the crackdown.      Thirty-one years ago, on August 23, 1989, an estimated two million people joined arms across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a protest against Soviet rule that became known as the “Baltic Way.” Protesters formed a 600-kilometer-long human chain from Vilnius, Lithuania, to the Belarusian border. Two years later, the Baltic states would achieve their freedom.      On Sunday, mass protests were held in Lithuania and Latvia, and were scheduled to occur in Estonia and Prague, as a show of support for Belarus across the Baltics.     People form a human chain to show support to protesters in Belarus in Medininkai, Lithuania, Aug. 23, 2020.Organizers in Lithuania Sunday estimated up to 50,000 people took part in their rally. In Latvia, hundreds marched along the Belarus border, the French news agency reported. Elsewhere, human chains were planned in Estonia and Prague.      Also, it was announced Saturday that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will visit Lithuania and Russia for talks on the Belarusian post-election crisis.     Tsikhanouskaya’s team said Saturday that Biegun would meet the opposition candidate in Lithuania.       RFE/RL contributed to this report.     
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A lot of eyebrows were raised when Russia announced it was the first to approve a vaccine for the coronavirus, and even more so when Vietnam said it would buy up to 150 million doses.  Not many were expecting the news, but if it comes to pass, a few factors would explain how Vietnam and Russia got here. The two sides have a long history, from founding father Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary years in Moscow, to their membership in a modern trade deal. Vietnam has also been more aggressive than most other nations in tackling COVID-19, and it needs an affordable vaccine as the World Health Organization (WHO) warns rich nations against “vaccine nationalism” and hoarding.  The U.S., a key partner of Vietnam, has expressed doubt that Russia developed a vaccine so quickly. Other nations reportedly interested in the vaccine include the Philippines, Indonesia, India and South Korea. Cold War history Several nations have already put in pre-orders for other future vaccines, and there are more than 150 programs to research possible vaccines around the world, from silkworm cells in Japan, to new use of RNA instead of DNA in research. Russia announced this month it is in Phase 2 trial of a vaccine, which involves testing on hundreds of people, as opposed to tens of thousands in Phase 3. Vietnam could buy 50 million to 150 million doses by 2021, according to the state-run newspaper Tuoi Tre.  “A vaccine that has been used in a foreign country may not require any more tests when it’s imported to Vietnam,” Dr. Tran Dac Phu, an associate professor at the Vietnam Ministry of Health’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center, said on the national VTV station. “However, its trials must still be applied on humans to test its safety and effectiveness.” Russia’s relations have frayed elsewhere, from interference in the U.S. presidential election, to its annexation of Ukraine territory which prompted European Union sanctions. By contrast, feathers are mostly unruffled in Asia, especially in Vietnam, one of the world’s last remaining communist nations, which had strong ties to the old Soviet Union. In addition to Ho Chi Minh’s studies of Lenin, many prominent Vietnamese spent their formative years in Cold-War-era Russia before coming home to found companies, such as Vietjet Air. ‘Negligent’ behavior The Southeast Asian nation was already conducting its own vaccine research before the Russia announcement, one of many trials globally because scientists need to test on a diverse array of volunteers. However, the first viable vaccine is likely to come from a nation with many resources, leading to fears at the WHO and elsewhere that instead of cooperating, developed nations could put themselves first when a vaccine emerges.  Vietnam was also taking COVID-19 seriously before its peers, but the fight intensified in July when it reported its first ever death from the disease. It has now jumped on the possibility of a vaccine, following a pattern of attacking the pandemic aggressively. Still people need to keep taking safety measures and not pin all their hopes on a vaccine, said Vu Duc Dam, the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam who has been leading the pandemic efforts. “Because we controlled the disease well for a long time, people have become more negligent,” he said this month. “It’s time to remind ourselves that the pandemic is still going on and the vaccine will only be available to everyone in at least one year. We must strengthen measures to safely live together with the disease.” 
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Tens of thousands of people rallied in the Belarus capital Sunday and called for President Alexander Lukashenko to resign after disputed election results, a postelection crackdown, and a heavy military presence in the city.Protesters, many wearing and waving the opposition’s colors of red and white, chanted “freedom” and “we will not forget, we will not forgive” as they walked in the Minsk city center. They briefly gathered near the president’s residence before dispersing peacefully.People take photos sitting on the roof as Belarusian opposition supporters with a huge old Belarusian national flag march to Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 23, 2020.Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition candidate who fled to Lithuania after the election and claimed to have won from 60 to 70% of the vote, said Saturday that Belarusians must “struggle for their rights” and not be distracted by Lukashenko’s claims that the country was under military threat.Also, it was announced Saturday that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will visit Lithuania and Russia next week for talks on the Belarusian postelection crisis.Tsikhanouskaya’s team said Saturday that Biegun would meet the opposition candidate in Lithuania.RFE/RL contribute to this report.
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A former Soviet republic on the fault line between Russia and Europe is boiling with revolt this summer. Sounds familiar — but Belarus 2020 isn’t Ukraine 2014, and that’s why it’s hard to predict what will happen next. Here is a look at what’s different this time, and why it matters: No real leader The uprising in Belarus erupted last week in a democratic vacuum, in a country where challengers to President Alexander Lukashenko are jailed or exiled and where there is no experienced parliamentary opposition. So those at the forefront of Minsk protest marches have been ordinary Belarusians, instead of established political leaders like those who helped galvanize crowds and funding for Ukraine’s 2014 protest movement, centered around the Maidan independence square in Kyiv. In Belarus, “the absence of bright leaders undoubtedly weakens the protests … Leaders bring awareness,” independent political analyst Valery Karbalevich said. So Belarusian protesters formed a new Advisory Council this week to try to “offer the street a clear plan and agenda,” he said. However, opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova argues that the mass protests this month in Minsk, which came together in decentralized clusters via messaging app Telegram, show that Belarusians no longer need a vertical hierarchy telling them what to do. And a leaderless protest has one key advantage, she said: “It cannot be beheaded.” Orderly protests When unprecedented crowds of 200,000 people marched through the tidy, broad avenues of Minsk on Sunday, they came to a halt at red traffic lights, waiting obediently until they turned green. In Ukraine, by contrast, “protesters burned tires and threw Molotov cocktails,” said Syarzhuk Chyslau, leader of the Belarusian White Legion organization. That’s in part because the Minsk marches lack the kind of far-right and neo-Nazi militant groups that joined Ukraine’s uprising and fanned the violence. It’s also because Belarusians aren’t driven by the deep-seated anger at Russian influence that fueled Ukraine’s uprisings in 2004 and 2014, or Georgia’s ground-breaking Rose Revolution in 2003. While Ukraine has been geopolitically split between pro-West and pro-Russian camps since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Belarusians are broadly Moscow-friendly. Not a single European Union flag has appeared at the Minsk rallies, and the protesters aren’t pursuing NATO membership at the Kremlin’s expense; they just want to freely choose their own leader after an election they believe was stolen from them. Pavel Latushko, a former Lukashenko loyalist now on the protesters’ Advisory Council, hopes this could allow Belarusians to count on help from both Brussels and Moscow to settle the current tensions. “If the EU and Russia together acted as a mediator in resolving the Belarusian crisis, this would be an ideal option,” Latushko told The Associated Press. Economics While Ukraine’s protest movement built a huge tent camp in the center of Kyiv, complete with food delivery and security forces, the only perks for protesters in Belarus so far are bottles of water. “There are no oligarchs in Belarus who would give money for hot meals, medical treatment and tents. Even to pay police fines, Belarusian protesters collect money themselves,” analyst Alexander Klaskouski said. Unlike Ukraine’s largely privatized economy, Belarus’ economy remains 80% state-run, and little has evolved since the Soviet era. That makes it even more remarkable that workers at state-run factories have joined this week’s protests and strikes. “The structure of the economy allowed Ukrainians not to be afraid of the state, which in Belarus could throw any person out on the street with nothing at all,” said Klaskouski. The EU and U.S. also had economic interests in Ukraine before its 2014 uprising, but have only a marginal role in the largely closed-off Belarusian economy. Moscow’s role Given that, the Kremlin can’t easily portray Belarus’ protests as a Western-backed effort to sow chaos in its backyard the way it could in Ukraine. Russia used that argument to justify its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and backing for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine in a war that still simmers, six years on. But Russia’s role in Belarus is pivotal, as the country’s top trade partner and main military ally. So far, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear to Germany and France that they should steer clear of any interference, but hasn’t revealed how he wants to deal with the protesters or with Lukashenko, the only leader in the former Soviet space who’s been in power longer than Putin himself. Potential parallels Ukraine has been a cacophonous democracy for much of the 29 years since winning independence from the USSR, and Belarus is dubbed Europe’s last dictatorship — but they share some similarities. “Lukashenko made the same mistake as [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych — he began to brutally beat peaceful protesters, which sparked a tsunami of popular protest, insulted dignity and triggered a revolution,” said analyst Vladimir Fesenko, director of the Penta Center in Kyiv. Belarusian economist Dmitry Rusakevich, 46, participated in the Kyiv protests on the Maidan, and now goes out to Minsk’s Independence Square every evening. “Maidan woke up Belarusians and showed that we need to fight for freedom,” he said. “It took the calm Belarusians a long time to muster the courage to say no to the dictator.” 
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The wife of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who is being treated for suspected poisoning at a Berlin hospital, visited her husband Sunday, according to the Associated Press.Yulia Navalnaya and an aide did not speak to reporters as they entered the German capital’s Charité hospital to see Navalny. He is in an induced coma and breathing with the aid of a ventilator.Navalny, who was flying to Moscow from Siberia Thursday, fell ill during the flight, prompting the plane to make an emergency landing in Omsk, in Siberia. His aide said Navalny had drunk black tea at an airport cafe.  Supporters of Navalny, a well-known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, believe the tea was laced with poison.Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, speaks with the media outside a hospital, where Alexei receives medical treatment in Omsk, Russia, Aug. 21, 2020.Navalnaya pushed to have her husband, 44, flown for treatment in Berlin. After his arrival Saturday, hospital spokeswoman Manuela Zingl told AP he would undergo extensive diagnostic tests and that doctors wouldn’t comment on his illness or treatment until they were able to evaluate the results. AP’s report did not include a timeframe for that.On Saturday, Russian health authorities, who at first balked at allowing Navalny to be flown to Germany, said tests hadn’t shown any poisons in his system.Before Friday’s decision to allow treatment in Germany, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated the government would help facilitate the move and wished Navalny a “speedy recovery.”   Peskov said the government would investigate the incident should toxicology reports show Navalny had been poisoned.  The case has attracted international attention.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern last week over Navalny’s condition.U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden also weighed in, saying Navalny’s “coma after being poisoned” was “unacceptable.”Donald Trump continues to cozy up to Russia while Putin persecutes civil society and journalists. Now, opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after being poisoned. It’s unacceptable. Unlike Trump, I’ll defend our democratic values and stand up to autocrats like Putin. https://t.co/OLjoGDaG4f— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 21, 2020The U.S. Embassy in Moscow indicated it was monitoring the situation.“If true, the suspected poisoning of Russian oppositionist Aleksey #Navalny represents a grave moment for Russia, and the Russian people deserve to see all those involved held to account. Our thoughts are with his family,” said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Ross in a tweet.Charles Maynes in Moscow contributed to this report.
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Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is in serious condition with a fever, her party’s spokeswoman said on Sunday. Tymoshenko, 59, who twice served as premier before her defeat in the 2010 presidential election, became the first high-profile Ukrainian politician known to have contracted COVID-19. Parliament has been on summer vacation since mid-July. “Her condition is assessed as serious, her temperature is up to 39 [Celsius],” the spokeswoman for her Fatherland party said, declining to say whether Tymoshenko had been hospitalized or give further detail. Ukraine has experienced a sharp rise in infections this week, with a new 24-hour total of 2,328 cases reported on Saturday. The overall number of infections reached 104,958 along with 2,271 deaths. Tymoshenko rose to prominence as co-leader of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004 in which pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko was confirmed as president after a court declared the election result to have been rigged in favor of his pro-Moscow foe. She served twice as prime minister under Yushchenko before the two fell out after years of political turmoil. Tymoshenko ran for president in 2010 and lost to Russian-backed Viktor Yanukovich and in 2011 was sentenced to seven years in prison on abuse of office charges, which she denied, calling the accusations politically motivated. She was freed from prison in early 2014 after Yanukovich was toppled in a popular uprising that put Ukraine on a path away from former Soviet master Moscow toward closer ties with the European Union and the United States.  
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Tens of thousands of people gathered in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, for a rally Sunday against the disputed reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko and a postelection crackdown amid a heavy military presence in the city amid a fresh warning from the army.   Crowds filed down streets of the city center for what is being billed as the March of New Belarus as protests entered a 15th  day in the Eastern European country of 9.5 million.FILE – Opposition supporters protest against disputed presidential elections results at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 18, 2020.Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Belarus since Lukashenko, in power since 1994, was declared the winner of the August 9 poll. More than 7,000 people have been detained and hundreds beaten by police. The EU and the United States have criticized the vote and condemned the postelection crackdown.   Human chains of solidarity with Belarus were planned for later Sunday in 26 countries, including Lithuania, where the human line hopes to stretch to the border with Belarus.   Thirty-one years ago, on August 23, 1989, an estimated 2 million people joined arms across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a protest against Soviet rule that became known as the “Baltic Way.”   Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addresses the nation in Vilnius, Lithuania, in this still image taken from handout video released Aug. 21, 2020.Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition candidate who fled to Lithuania after the election and claimed to have won from 60 to 70 percent of the vote, said Saturday that Belarusians must “struggle for their rights” and not be distracted by Lukashenko’s claims that the country was under military threat.   “We are people of Belarus and we are a majority and we will not step away. We are not afraid of them anymore,” she told the AFP news agency.    Her comments came as Lukashenko again claimed NATO troops in Poland and Lithuania were “seriously stirring” near Belarus’s borders.   Dressed in military fatigues, Lukashenko told a military unit in Hrodna Saturday that Belarus’s army must “protect the territorial integrity of our country,” adding “military support is evident.”   NATO said the claims were “baseless.”   “As we have already made clear, NATO poses no threat to Belarus or any other country and has no military buildup in the region,” it said in a statement last week.   Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also denied the accusation Saturday.   “The regime is trying to divert attention from Belarus’s internal problems at any cost with totally baseless statements about imaginary external threats,” Nauseda told AFP.   The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry also announced Saturday that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun will visit Lithuania and Russia next week for talks on the Belarusian postelection crisis.Tsikhanouskaya’s team said Saturday that Biegun would meet the opposition candidate in Lithuania.   No election in Belarus under Lukashenko has ever been deemed free or fair by the West. 
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Analysis from the black boxes of a downed Ukrainian passenger plane shows it was hit by two missiles 25 seconds apart and that passengers were still alive for some time after the impact of the first blast, Iran said on Sunday.The announcement by the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization marks the first official report on the contents of the cockpit voice and data recordings, which were sent to France for reading in July.Tehran has said it accidentally shot down the Ukraine airliner in January, at a time of extreme tensions with the United States. All 176 people aboard the plane were killed.”Nineteen seconds after the first missile hit the plane, the voices of pilots inside the cockpit, indicated that the passengers were alive … 25 seconds later the second missile hit the plane,” Touraj Dehghani-Zanganeh was cited as saying by state television.Iran has been in talks with Ukraine, Canada and other nations that had citizens aboard the downed plane, and who have demanded a thorough investigation into the incident.”The data analysis from the black boxes should not be politicized,” Zanganeh said.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight with a ground-to-air missile on January 8, just after the plane took off from Tehran, in what Tehran later acknowledged as a “disastrous mistake” by forces on high alert during a confrontation with the United States.Iranian and Ukrainian officials have held talks on the compensation to families of the victims. Another round of talks is set for October. 
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Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is being treated at Berlin’s renowned Charite Hospital for suspected poisoning, after he was transported from the Siberian city of Omsk to Germany on Saturday.The Russian opposition leader is currently in a coma and breathing through a ventilator.Charite said in a short statement that it had admitted Navalny and was carrying out an “extensive medical diagnosis.” The hospital has not given any details about Navalny’s condition.Jaka Bizilj, founder of the Cinema for Peace that facilitated the evacuation of Navalny to Germany in a chartered medical plane, said his condition was stable.”The good news is that he’s stable, so the whole travel did not affect him,” Bizilj said. “But there is no reason to celebrate, because he is in a very critical condition. So, the real work starts now with the doctors at the Charite,” he said.Family and associates of Navalny believe he was poisoned with a cup of tea at an airport where he was to board a plane to Moscow, and blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian doctors, however, said tests showed no trace of poison.Initially, Russian doctors refused to permit Navalny’s evacuation, maintaining it was too dangerous to move him, but later acquiesced to demands to allow his medical treatment in Germany.That came after Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, issued a public appeal online to Putin to facilitate the move.DiagnosisIn a preliminary diagnosis Friday, Russian doctors in Omsk said a “metabolic disorder” tied to a low blood-sugar level had caused Navalny to suddenly lose consciousness aboard a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to his Moscow home early Thursday.Other Russian health officials announced that traces of an industrial chemical had been found on his skin and hair.Still others said that Navalny had been exposed to a dangerous substance that posed such a danger to others that moving him would require caution.Navalny’s associates have openly suggested foul play followed by a government-backed coverup.“What was the factor that influenced that this young and sporty man to this extent that he was nearly dead and had to be put in coma and on a ventilator … is still unclear,” Leonid Volkov, the politician’s chief strategist, said in a press conference in Berlin on Friday.Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmys, who was traveling with the politician at the time of the incident, insists Navalny was poisoned when he drank some black tea at an airport cafe.“I was with Alexey from the very start of the morning,” she said. “I sat in the seat next to him on the plane, and have no shared symptoms with his poisoning.”The case has attracted international attention.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have expressed concern over Navalny’s condition.U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden weighed in, saying Navalny’s “coma after being poisoned” was “unacceptable.”Donald Trump continues to cozy up to Russia while Putin persecutes civil society and journalists. Now, opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after being poisoned. It’s unacceptable. Unlike Trump, I’ll defend our democratic values and stand up to autocrats like Putin. https://t.co/OLjoGDaG4f— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 21, 2020The U.S. Embassy in Moscow indicated it was monitoring the situation.“If true, the suspected poisoning of Russian oppositionist Aleksey #Navalny represents a grave moment for Russia, and the Russian people deserve to see all those involved held to account. Our thoughts are with his family,” said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Ross in a tweet.Kremlin responseBefore Friday’s decision to allow treatment in Germany, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov indicated the government would help facilitate the move and wished Navalny a “speedy recovery.”Peskov said the government would investigate the incident should toxicology reports show Navalny had been poisoned.Navalny has long been a problematic figure for the Kremlin, detailing corruption and excess at the highest levels of the government on his popular YouTube channel.The channel’s mix of investigative journalism and caustic humor has resonated with younger Russians in particular — a group Putin has struggled to court.Navalny has made no secret of his political ambitions.He launched a campaign for president to challenge Putin in 2018 that was undone by a lingering criminal conviction.His supporters — and the European Court of Human Rights — agreed that the charges were levied to keep him out of the race.   
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A Minsk-based journalism trade group is calling on the Belarusian Information Ministry to immediately unblock more 50 news media websites in what they’re describing as a virtual blackout of reporting on protests over authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko’s bid to extend his 26 years in power.Analyst Franak Viačorka first reported the shutdowns late Friday, which included sites for the U.S.-funded Radio Liberty, a USAGM-run sister agency of VOA, Polish-funded satellite TV channel Belsat, Minsk-based EuroRadio, Belarusian sports news outlet Tribuna, and many others.⚡️Breaking! The website of @svaboda (@RFERL) was blocked by Belarus’ Ministry of Information along with 73 other pages, including https://t.co/pQ13BknCkQ, https://t.co/f1yIxPZHN6, https://t.co/qYCGvlcrcd and many others. @USAGMgov@RFERLPress@Belsat_TV— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) August 21, 2020The blockade came just hours after state-run publishing house Vysheysha Shkola stopped printing prominent independent newspapers Narodnaya Volya and Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing malfunctioning press equipment. It was the third time Komsomolskaya Pravda’s press run was disrupted since the August 9 presidential election.Protests unprecedented in Belarus for their size and duration broke out after the vote in which election officials say Lukashenko won a sixth term in a landslide. Protesters call the results fraudulent and are demanding his resignation.Immediately after the election, various protest groups said they suddenly faced limited access to the Telegram messaging service they use to coordinate anti-government action. They also described an internet shutdown that they blamed on the authorities.The Belarusian Association of Journalists, whose own website has been blocked domestically since August 9, links the mass blackout of websites, along with rolling internet service outages and the print media disruptions, with what it calls “government attempts to block information about post-election protests in the country and severe violence against their participants.”The Belarusian Embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA’s emails requesting comment.”We consider such actions indirect censorship and obstruction of the legitimate activities of media in Belarus,” the journalists’ association said in an open letter to the Information Ministry.”These actions not only violate the rights of journalists and the media, but also restrict the constitutional right of citizens to receive complete, reliable and timely information,” the letter said.BAJ, it said, “demands that the country’s authorities immediately stop pressure on the press, ensure uninterrupted publication of printed publications, and unblock access to the blocked websites.”International reactionThe group also called on international organizations to support their statement.The International Press Institute and more than a dozen other press watchdogs, including PEN America, the European Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the U.N.-run Internews, recently issued an open letter demanding protection for reporters.The European Federation of Journalists on Friday castigated Belarusian customs officials for denying entry to 17 foreign journalists at Minsk’s airport August 20.”Journalists from Estonia, Poland, Serbia, Germany and Georgia were not allowed to enter,” said the organization’s statement, which cites Belarusian Foreign Affairs Ministry officials who say they refused entry to journalists whose accreditation forms hadn’t yet been fully processed.The latest restrictions come days after at least six on-air presenters resigned from state broadcasting company Belarus One. Some 300 of the national channel’s 2,000 employees also went on strike that day, saying they refused to disseminate state propaganda that plays down the magnitude of street clashes or vilifies protesters.“People feel that if we can’t do honest journalism, then we won’t work,” Kseniya Lutskina, a Belarus One documentarian, told The Guardian.The walkouts are significant since state TV dominates Belarusian broadcasting for news and entertainment programming, and it is a primary source of news for a large majority of Belarusians.In leaving their jobs, members of the media joined growing ranks of police, security officers, and factory workers who are also quitting.Lukashenko on Saturday addressed a rally of several thousand supporters in the city of Grodno, where he threatened to close factories that are on strike as of Monday. Strikes have hit some of the country’s major companies, including vehicle and fertilizer manufacturers, a potential blow to the largely state-controlled economy.Lukashenko alleges that the protests are inspired by Western forces including the United States, and that NATO is deploying forces near Belarus’ western border. The alliance firmly denies that claim.Widespread crackdownPhysical attacks, arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions, fines and deportations have been widely reported for months. The Belarusian Association of Journalists has documented more than 130 serious violations of journalists’ rights between the beginning of the presidential campaign May 8 and August 11, 48 hours after the election.Several foreign correspondents, such as BBC cameraman Abdujalil Abdurasulov and Associated Press photographer Mstyslav Chernov, have described being briefly detained and beaten.Independent Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta recently published an article stating that Belarus riot police have been particularly targeting Russian correspondents.”Crowds of journalists with a variety of IDs and passports, from Great Britain to Japan, are wandering around Minsk these days. But only Russians are beaten, deported, intimidated, arrested,” the article said, citing an August 7 incident in which a Russian language film crew of one Russian and two Ukrainian nationals were detained and then deported to Odessa.Other Russian nationals detained while reporting from Minsk since August 9 include Meduza correspondent Maxim Solopov, Daily Storm correspondents Anton Starkov and Dmitriy Lasenko, and Russia Today correspondent Konstantin Pridybaylo.The European Federation of Journalists reported August 12 that both of Belarusian journalist Rasl Kulevich’s arms were broken after he was arrested for covering a street demonstration in Rodno for a local publication.Belarusian journalist Rasl Kulevich was arrested on the evening of 11 August while covering demonstrations in Rodno for https://t.co/GK1gQRrfBk.The police beat him and broke both his forearms.#Belaruspic.twitter.com/9uEWfISKAK— EFJ (@EFJEUROPE) August 16, 2020Johan Bihr of Reporters Without Borders recently told VOA he believes instructions to crack down on reporters appear to be coming from the top.“Over the past few days and weeks, President Lukashenko has repeatedly warned and threatened independent media. He scolded the Belarusian Foreign Ministry for accrediting Radio Liberty,” Bihr told VOA on Aug. 14. “He threatened the journalists of (website) Tut.by and (television channel) Belsat, accusing them of instigating a revolution. In this way, he very openly and clearly empowered the state apparatus to crack down on independent journalists and arrange an information blackout in the country.”Reporters Without Borders, whose World Press Freedom Index ranks Belarus 153rd out of 180 countries, where 1 is the freest, has called on the European Union to sanction Belarus over the crackdown.Some information is from AP, Reuters, and RFE/RL. 
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Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya sees herself as a symbol of change whose role is to help deliver new elections as President Alexander Lukashenko will have to quit sooner or later, she told Reuters Saturday.Speaking in Lithuania, to which she and her two children have fled for security reasons, Tsikhanouskaya said she felt duty-bound to do what she could to support protesters in her home country but would not run for president again.”During the campaign I didn’t see myself as a politician, but I pushed myself forward,” she said. “I don’t see myself in politics. I am not a politician.”Tens of thousands of Belarusians have taken to the streets for nearly two weeks to protest against what they believe was a rigged August 9 presidential election. They want veteran leader Lukashenko to quit so new elections can be held.Tsikhanouskaya, who ran in the election against Lukashenko after her husband, a well-known video blogger, was jailed, said fate had handed her a role that she had no right to forsake.”It is my fate and my mission, and I don’t have the right to step away. I understand that I’m in safety here, but all the people who voted for me in Belarus … need me as a symbol. They need the person they voted for. I couldn’t betray my people.”She has been making regular video appeals to try to keep up the protests’ momentum. She said she had also fielded phone calls from world leaders who had asked her how they could help.None gave concrete promises to support her, and none said they regarded her as the president-elect.”I understand that they have no right and possibility to interfere in internal affairs of our country. … I asked everybody to respect the independence of our country, the sovereignty of our country,” she said.FILE – A view shows a photo of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, which was attached to a fence by participants of a protest against presidential election results, outside the embassy of Belarus in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 14, 2020.’Sooner or later’When asked which countries had called, she mentioned Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and others.Tsikhanouskaya will meet U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun in Lithuania on Monday as part of the efforts to defuse the crisis over disputed elections, her aides told Reuters.The No. 2 U.S. diplomat will stop over in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, en route to Moscow as Washington seeks a peaceful resolution to the crisis that would avert Russian intervention.Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has close ties with Belarus, had not been in touch, and Tsikhanouskaya said she would not attempt to reach him herself.”I don’t have anything to ask him about, just [to respect] sovereignty,” she said. “Any future relationship with Russia or other countries would be decided by people and by the new president.”Tsikhanouskaya said that Lukashenko’s authority was badly damaged and that things would be different in Belarus, even if he managed to cling to power for now.Lukashenko said Saturday that he would close factories that have seen worker protests, the Russian RIA news agency reported — his latest attempt to quell a wave of opposition rallies since the contested elections.”Belarusian people have changed during this year. The Belarusian people won’t be able to accept him as the new president….”I’m sure that sooner or later he will have to leave.” 
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London’s famous Tower Bridge, which crosses the River Thames in the heart of the British capital, was stuck open Saturday, leaving traffic in chaos and onlookers amazed at the sight.The historic bascule-and-suspension bridge failed to close after opening to allow ships to pass underneath on the Thames. London police tweeted shortly after 5 p.m. that the bridge was closed to pedestrians and traffic and that mechanics were working to fix the problem. An hour later, police tweeted that the bridge had reopened.Tower Bridge is 244 meters (800 feet) long and its towers are 65 meters (213 feet) high. It was built between 1886 and 1894.
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Belarus opposition figures are urging Western governments to collectively make it clear to the Kremlin that Russia must avoid a military intervention to save Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
 
They want Western nations to announce their readiness to stand by the Budapest Memorandum, an international protocol signed in 1994 guaranteeing the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Belarus.
 
In a video interview with VOA and other news outlets, Valery Tsepkalo, a former diplomat, and one of Lukashenko’s main electoral rivals until forced into exile, says the West should immediately recognize Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as the legitimate ruler of the country—in the same way it recognized last year Juan Guaido in Venezuela as the legitimate ruler after declaring Nicolas Maduro’s presidency illegitimate.
 
The 55-year-old Tsepkalo, who served for five years as ambassador to United States, says Tsikhanouskaya is “seen in the mind of every person in the Republic of Belarus” as the real winner of this month’s election. Tsepkalo fled Belarus before the poll, after being disqualified from standing. He feared he’d be imprisoned or that his children might be abducted.People hold a flag with a portrait of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, main opposition candidate in Belarus’ presidential elections, during a rally contesting official poll results, in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 17, 2020.Two other key contenders were imprisoned before voting took place, including Tsikhanouskaya’s husband, a well-known blogger. She and Tsepkalo’s wife, Veronika, joined forces, and along with Tsikhanouskaya’s campaign manager, presented a united female front against authoritarian leader Lukashenko in the run-up to the August 9 presidential election.
 
Lukashenko claims he won 80 percent of the vote, a tally disputed by his opponents and Western governments. European Union leaders midweek refused to recognize the results of the election. They say they intend to impose sanctions on officials involved in electoral fraud, and the violent repression of pre-election rallies and post-election protests, marking the biggest challenge to Lukashenko’s 26-year rule.
 
“The EU will impose shortly sanctions on a substantial number of individuals responsible for violence, repression and election fraud,” European Council President Charles Michel said at the end of an emergency summit of EU leaders. EU officials are calling for a peaceful dialogue between the government and the opposition to arrange a “transition of power in Belarus.”
 
Michel said the situation in Belarus is “increasingly concerning,” dubbing violence against peaceful protesters as “shocking and unacceptable.” About 7,000 people were detained, and hundreds, including reporters, were injured with rubber bullets, stun grenades and clubs in just the first four days of demonstrations following the poll.
 
At least two protesters have died.
 FILE – Valery Tsepkalo, a former Belarusian diplomat forced into exile, speaks during an interview near Red Square in Moscow, Russia, July 28, 2020.Valery Tsepkalo says, aside from now recognizing Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as president-elect of Belarus, Western states should avoid doing anything that might be seen as legitimizing Lukashenko, including appointing any new ambassadors to Minsk. “Do not send any ambassadors, new ambassadors to Belarus at this time,” he advises.
 
For Tsepkalo, the international move to recognize Tsikhanouskaya as the legitimate winner of the August 9 election would help to erode any residual support that may remain for Lukashenko in the ranks of the country’s armed forces. It would allow generals and senior officers a justifiable reason for ignoring any instructions from Lukashenko.
 
“It would help the transition of power because many guys from the army and from law enforcement agencies, they do not want to resign,” he says. “They would like to continue to serve the country,” he says.
 
Tsepkalo said he doesn’t believe Lukashenko can now count on the loyalty of the army, and he is doubtful the country’s generals and top military commanders would obey an order to deploy to the streets to suppress continuing anti-government protests. He says there have been reports that defense chiefs have been demanding written orders from Lukashenko, something he has been fearful of doing “because he is very afraid of [the] consequences” for himself.Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during a meeting with security and law enforcement leaders in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 21, 2020.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended Belarusian protesters Thursday. “The United States has been inspired by the display of peaceful expression of the Belarusian people seeking to determine their own future,” America’s top diplomat said in a written statement. “We stand by our long-term commitment to support Belarus’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the aspirations of the Belarusian people to choose their leaders and to choose their own path, free from external intervention.”
 
Tsepkalo says a formal re-commitment by all Western states to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum would send a “strong message” to Russia. The protocol refers to three identical political agreements signed at a conference in Budapest overseen by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
 
The agreements provided security assurances to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any of the trio. In return, Belarus and the other two states gave up their stockpiles of Soviet-era nuclear weapons.
 
The protocol was cited by Ukraine’s leaders when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 — to little avail. Tsepkalo acknowledges the Budapest Memorandum “didn’t work” to stop Russia from absorbing the Ukrainian peninsula. He adds, though, the commitment could still be useful, saying it would demonstrate “very, very strong moral support for Belarus’ independence.”FILE – Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, presidential candidate (C), Veronika Tsepkalo, wife of opposition figure Valery Tsepkalo (L), and Maria Kolesnikova, campaign representative of another opposition candidate, gesture in Minsk, Belarus, July 30, 2020.Both Valery and Veronika Tsepkalo, who are together now in exile in Moscow, emphasize that the agitation against Lukashenko is neither anti-Russian nor pro-EU. He says he is hopeful Belarus and Russia will remain friends.
 
During the interview, Veronika Tsepkalo declined, when asked by a journalist, to draw any parallels with protests in Russia against President Vladimir Putin. “Our situation is unique,” she says. “We just want to change our country and have the right to be independent,” says Veronika Tsepkalo.
 
“We don’t want to be part of Russia. We don’t want to be, or are ready to be, part of the European Union. So, we just want to stay independent,” she says.
 
Western diplomats and analysts say Putin’s biggest fear is the emergence of a Western-oriented, EU-friendly Belarus, but there is mounting evidence the Kremlin is not wedded to Lukashenko remaining in power. Some Russian members of parliament have expressed disdain publicly for Lukashenko, criticism that’s unlikely to have been voiced without the prior go-ahead behind-the-scenes by the Kremlin, say analysts. 
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The U.N. Human Rights office is calling on Belarusian authorities to immediately release all people unlawfully arrested during anti-government protests, which broke out nearly two weeks ago in the wake of allegedly fraudulent presidential elections.
 
Most of the several thousand people detained reportedly have been released. However, U.N. human rights monitors report that more than 100 people remain in jail. They express particular concern about the cases of some 60 people accused of criminal acts, charges that could carry heavy prison sentences.
 
U.N. human rights spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, said her agency is particularly worried about the fate of at least eight people whose whereabouts are unknown. She said information has been hard to get because of the practice of mass detentions.  
 
Nevertheless, she said Belarus has a duty to make sure comprehensive, accurate records are kept. She said family members and legal counsel must be informed about where all individuals are being held.
 
“Allegations continue to emerge of large-scale torture and ill-treatment of people including of journalists, and particularly alarming of children, during the arrests and in detention.  We are, therefore, disturbed that reportedly no action has to date been taken to investigate these reports, with a view to bringing those responsible to justice,” Throssell said.
 
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital Minsk Aug. 9, claiming the country’s long-serving president, Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed Europe’s last dictator, had stolen the election. Demonstrations calling for him to step down show no sign of abating despite the violent actions of riot police to suppress the protests.
 
Throssell said people have a right to freedom of expression and to freedom of peaceful assembly.  She said the government should take steps to facilitate and not to repress these rights.
 
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A plane carrying Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who is in a coma after a suspected poisoning, touched down Saturday morning in Berlin, where he will receive medical attention at Charité Clinic, the city’s main hospital.Russian doctors announced earlier they had acquiesced to demands to allow Navalny medical treatment in Germany — ending a standoff over who would administer care to the politician following what Navanly’s family says was a deliberate attempt to poison him in Siberia earlier this week.”The patient’s condition is stable,” Dr. Anatoly Kalinichenko of Hospital No. 1 in the city of Omsk, where Navalny has been in a medically induced coma and ventilator, said Friday.”As we are in possession of a request from relatives to permit him to be transported, we have now taken the decision that we do not object to his transfer to another in-patient facility,” he added.Kalinichenko also said that “having received the request from relatives for transportation,” Navalny’s family would take “full responsibility.”The decision capped a day of seesawing as local Russian doctors initially concluded it was too dangerous to move Navalny only to change their minds amid public outcry.That came after Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, issued a public appeal online to Russian President Vladimir Putin to facilitate the move. Navalny’s supporters also argued any delay in a medical evacuation put his survival at risk — and, perhaps, put off discovering FILE – Police detain Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny during a rally in Moscow, Russia, June 12, 2019.Diagnosis In a preliminary diagnosis Friday, Russian doctors in Omsk said a “metabolic disorder” tied to a low blood-sugar level had caused Navalny to suddenly lose consciousness aboard a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to his Moscow home early Thursday.Other Russian health officials announced that traces of an industrial chemical had been found on his skin and hair.Still others said that Navalny had been exposed to a dangerous substance that posed such a danger to others that moving him would require caution.Navalny’s associates have openly suggested foul play followed by a government-backed cover-up.“What was the factor that influenced that this young and sporty man to this extent that he was nearly dead and had to be put in coma and on a ventilator … is still unclear,” Leonid Volkov, the politician’s chief strategist, said in a press conference in Berlin on Friday. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmys, who was traveling with the politician at the time of the incident, insists Navalny was poisoned when he drank some black tea at an airport cafe.“I was with Alexey from the very start of the morning,” she said. “I sat in the seat next to him on the plane, and have no shared symptoms with his poisoning.”The case has attracted International attention.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have expressed concern over Navalny’s condition.Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden weighed in, saying Navalny’s “coma after being poisoned” was “unacceptable.”Donald Trump continues to cozy up to Russia while Putin persecutes civil society and journalists. Now, opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after being poisoned. It’s unacceptable. Unlike Trump, I’ll defend our democratic values and stand up to autocrats like Putin. https://t.co/OLjoGDaG4f— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 21, 2020The U.S. Embassy in Moscow indicated it was monitoring the situation.“If true, the suspected poisoning of Russian oppositionist Aleksey #Navalny represents a grave moment for Russia, and the Russian people deserve to see all those involved held to account. Our thoughts are with his family,” said U.S. Embassy spokesperson Rebecca Ross in a tweet.Navalny’s supporters in Russia have arranged single-picket demonstrations in several cities. Authorities have detained temporarily many of them for violating a ban on protests during the coronavirus pandemic.Kremlin responseBefore Friday’s decision to allow treatment in Germany, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated the government would help facilitate the move and wished Navalny a “speedy recovery.” Peskov said the government would investigate the incident should toxicology reports show Navalny had been poisoned.Navalny has long been a problematic figure for the Kremlin, detailing corruption and excess at the highest levels of the government on his popular YouTube channel.The channel’s mix of investigative journalism and caustic humor has resonated with younger Russians in particular — a group Putin has struggled to court.Navalny has made no secret of his political ambitions.He launched a campaign for president to challenge Putin in 2018 that was undone by a lingering criminal conviction.His supporters — and the European Court of Human Rights — agreed that the charges were levied to keep him out of the race. 
 
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Russian doctors announced they had acquiesced to demands to allow opposition leader Alexey Navalny medical treatment in Germany — ending a standoff over who would administer care to the politician following what Navanly’s family says was a deliberate attempt to poison him in Siberia earlier this week.”The patient’s condition is stable,” Dr. Anatoly Kalinichenko of Hospital No. 1 in the city of Omsk, where Navalny has been in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator, said Friday.”As we are in possession of a request from relatives to permit him to be transported, we have now taken the decision that we do not object to his transfer to another in-patient facility,” he added.Kalinichenko also said that “having received the request from relatives for transportation,” Navalny’s family would take “full responsibility.”The decision capped a day of seesawing as local Russian doctors initially concluded it was too dangerous to move Navalny only to change their minds amid public outcry.That came after Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, issued a public appeal online to Russian President Vladimir Putin to facilitate the move.Navalny’s supporters also argued any delay in a medical evacuation put his survival at risk — and, perhaps, Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, walks near a hospital where Alexei receives medical treatment in Omsk, Russia, Aug. 21, 2020.Early Saturday, Navalny was taken by ambulance to the Omsk airport. He is to be flown to Berlin’s Charité Hospital.DiagnosisIn a preliminary diagnosis Friday, Russian doctors in Omsk said a “metabolic disorder” tied to a low blood-sugar level had caused Navalny to suddenly lose consciousness aboard a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to his Moscow home early Thursday.Other Russian health officials announced that traces of an industrial chemical had been found on his skin and hair.Still others said that Navalny had been exposed to a dangerous substance that posed such a danger to others that moving him would require caution.Navalny’s associates have openly suggested foul play followed by a government-backed cover-up.“What was the factor that influenced that this young and sporty man to this extent that he was nearly dead and had to be put in coma and on a ventilator … is still unclear,” Leonid Volkov, the politician’s chief strategist, said in a press conference in Berlin on Friday.Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmys, who was traveling with the politician at the time of the incident, insists Navalny was poisoned when he drank some black tea at an airport cafe.“I was with Alexey from the very start of the morning,” she said. “I sat in the seat next to him on the plane, and have no shared symptoms with his poisoning.”The case has attracted international attention.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have expressed concern over Navalny’s condition.Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden weighed in, saying Navalny’s “coma after being poisoned” was “unacceptable.”Donald Trump continues to cozy up to Russia while Putin persecutes civil society and journalists. Now, opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in a coma after being poisoned. It’s unacceptable. Unlike Trump, I’ll defend our democratic values and stand up to autocrats like Putin. https://t.co/OLjoGDaG4f— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 21, 2020The U.S. Embassy in Moscow indicated it was monitoring the situation.“If true, the suspected poisoning of Russian oppositionist Aleksey #Navalny represents a grave moment for Russia, and the Russian people deserve to see all those involved held to account. Our thoughts are with his family,” said U.S. Embassy spokesperson Rebecca Ross in a tweet.Navalny’s supporters in Russia have arranged single-picket demonstrations in several cities. Authorities have detained temporarily many of them for violating a ban on protests during the coronavirus pandemic.Kremlin responseBefore Friday’s decision to allow treatment in Germany, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated the government would help facilitate the move and wished Navalny a “speedy recovery.”Peskov said the government would investigate the incident should toxicology reports show Navalny had been poisoned.Navalny has long been a problematic figure for the Kremlin, detailing corruption and excess at the highest levels of the government on his popular YouTube channel.The channel’s mix of investigative journalism and caustic humor has resonated with younger Russians in particular — a group Putin has struggled to court.Navalny has made no secret of his political ambitions.He launched a campaign for president to challenge Putin in 2018 that was undone by a lingering criminal conviction.His supporters — and the European Court of Human Rights — agreed that the charges were levied to keep him out of the race.
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