Describing Belarus as the "last European dictatorship" in Western media has become a tradition. In many cases it is justified by real human rights abuses and the absence of any real democracy in the country....
In early January 2014 the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) published its December 2013 poll results for various domains of public opinion. Though some people, including opposition politicians and activists, doubt this institute's ability to handle a proper social...
On 24-26 October the political directors of the Swedish and Polish foreign ministries – Torbjorn Sohlstrom and Jaroslaw Bratkiewicz – visited Minsk. They came instead of their bosses Karl Bildt and Radoslav Sikorski, who preferred to go to Chisinau, Kyiv and Tbilisi. This shows Europeans'...
Since 22 August 2013 all foreigners can get Belarusian visas through the Minsk National Airport just after their arrival.However, these and other relaxations in the visa regime on the eve of the 2014 Ice Hockey World Cup still remain...
On 12 August 2013 Ruslan Mirzoeu, an ordinary worker from Minsk was arrested for making a short provocative movie, ridiculing the life of socially deprived people. A couple of other cases of pressuring individuals for producing videos with...
On 6 August 2013 Alexander Lukashenka held a meeting with top officials on the proposed changes to the Election Code. Some of the announced changes could potentially serve to further tighten the government's control over elections.Meanwhile, the officials’ rhetoric...
The Minister of Education Syarhei Maskevich announced on 3 May 2013 that "Belarusian universities enjoy a high level of autonomy". Considering the fact that Belarus remains the only European state outside of Bologna process precisely because of its lack of academic...
"Belarus aspires to the integration with the universal educational system preserving its achievements and traditions", – said the Deputy Minister of Education Alexander Zhuk on 3 April 2013. However, what he meant under "traditions" sometimes clearly contradicts the principles...
On 15 March 2013 Alexander Lukashenka congratulated Belarusians on the Constitution Day. Since this document entered into force in 1994 it has suffered two substantial revisions, each of which emphasised the further decline into an authoritarian abyss. Nowadays the Belarusian Constitution...
On 26 February 2012, Minister of Education Syarhei Maskevich announced a substantial increase of a minimum passing grade to Belarusian universities. The government wants to decrease the number of poorly performing students and to redirect young people to technical colleges...
On 15 February 2013, Juriy Zisser, founder of the most popular Belarusian website TUT.by, and Natalya Radina, the chief-editor of popular oppositional website Charter97.org, publicly quarrelled in Vienna. This incident revealed a much deeper split in Belarusian society than many...
Belarusian Minister for Education Siarhei Maskevich on 28 January 2013 expressed his hope that students will convert the Belarusian science "into the main factor of socio-economic and mental development of the country". But does the government really foster the progress...
Alexander Lukashenka's annual press conferences involve more than just answering questions. Being passionate and open, Alexander Lukashenka’s unprepared speech can be very entertaining. His press conference last week was no exception.
Belarus has mandatory legal conscription, but Alexander Lukashenka has ordered the preparation of a law on alternative civilian service in 2013. For a long time the absence of this law has been putting many young people in a legal trap of...
On 31 December 2012 Alexander Lukashenka announced that Belarus had become "a space nation". In other words, it had entered a club of countries having their own guided objects in space. The Belarusian ruler meant the launch of the first...