Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Last Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu visited Belarus. According to Belarusian officials and media the minister came just to sign visa abolition and readmission agreements. The Turkish Foreign Ministry added that ministers had, "exchanged views on regional ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Last month Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenka appointed Viktar Sheiman as head of the President's Property Administration, the biggest state-owned business empire and the financial backbone of Lukashenka's regime. Barely any other officials of the Belarusian regime are ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

This week Lukashenka lost one of his most important allies. Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili lost parliamentary elections and is going to switch to opposition. Belarusian ruler expressed his admiration for Saakashvili which was willing to give up the power.

Saakashvili has ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

In early September, the first ever signs in English appeared in the Minsk metro. In June, first bilingual street signs appeared in the centre of the capital.

These are important developments. Belarusian officials have talked about attracting foreign investors and tourists for ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Yesterday Belarus officially declared that it would not extradite the former head of Kyrgyzstan security service Janysh Bakiev.

That was the State Prosecution Office's response to extradition request from Bishkek. Kyrgyzstan accuses Janysh Bakiev of a committing a number of ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

It may sound surprising but Iranian political system is more democratic and pluralistic than Belarusian.

To build a democratic state Belarus needs complete overhaul, while Iran needs just light repairs. Anti-Western rhetoric united these regimes but when it comes to political ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

In about a month, Belarusians will vote in parliamentary elections.

Although parliamentary elections have become a mere formality since the late 1990s, each time they arise the Belarusian opposition actively discusses whether it makes sense to participate in them. The ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

On 30 July, BBC showed a controversial documentary about the 2011 terrorist attack in Minsk where 15 people died and over 200 were injured. It questioned the guilt of the two men convicted and subsequently executed for it. The film provoked a strong reaction from the ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

On Friday, Belarusian Foreign Ministry declared that it would not prolong the residence permit for the Swedish ambassador Stefan Ericsson. It caused predictable sharp reaction of Sweden and the European Union.

It also put an end to speculations that participation of the ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Struggling with problems in its foreign policy towards the West and Russia, Belarusian government looks for partners elsewhere. Last month, top Belarusian officials visited several South American capitals. Lukashenka personally went to Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. But despite ( Read more... )