Last week Mikalai Statkievich, a former presidential candidate, stated from prison that the Belarusian opposition needs to choose a single candidate for the presidential election from a pool of people with serious politically-motivated convictions. His comments come...
On 26 August, Minsk was the centre of attention for the international community, attracting hundreds of international reporters. The Belarusian authorities hosted a meeting between the Eurasian "troika", the Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and three EU commissioners. The very fact...
The National Bank continues to gradually reduce its refinancing rate. The latest reduction, which occurred in August 2014, may help make receiving financing for legal entities easier. And yet, despite their best intentions, these steps contribute to the accumulation of...
Earlier this month, Aliaksandr Lukashenka noted that, during his presidency, the Belarusian prison population has halved. He stressed that despite its dictatorship label, Belarus does not “throw everyone in prison.” Statistics present a more complicated picture, however. During Lukashenka’s first...
On 11-12 August the Belarusian authorities announced three upcoming legislative initiatives – all intended to complicate the life of state officials. They include a new anti-corruption law, an abrupt reduction in the number of civil servants and a presidential decree,...
Belarusian youth studying abroad have three days left to send their applications to participate in the annual Rally of the United Students of Belarus, which will take place in Lithuania on 1-5 October 2014. Young people studying abroad and...
Lukashenka's popularity rises as the conflict in east Ukraine shows no signs of abating anytime soon. Belarus may stand to benefit from Russia's sanctions against EU agricultural goods, though the Belarusian government has agreed not to re-sell sanctioned EU...
Earlier this month, Russia introduced a full embargo on imports of meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the European Union (EU), United States, Australia, Canada and Norway. Moscow sought to retaliate for the sanctions imposed by the West following...
Without any loud political rhetoric to bolster the Belarusian army, it has nonetheless gradually developed from an appendage cut off of the huge Soviet military into an army more adapted to the needs and capacities of a 9.5-million nation. Belarus...
Reluctant allies: Moscow has to put up with Minsk's position in the war against Ukraine. However, Putin does not see it necessary to hide his irritation any longer. The exhibition of arms and military machinery Milex-2014 was a success.
Last year the Ostrogorski Centre launched its Belarus Profile web site. Since then the database of the most influential Belarusians has become an increasingly popular source of biographical information. However, not many people in the West know...
Only eight McDonalds restaurants operate in Belarus, and fast food remains a rare treat for most residents. Obesity, however, is on the rise. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Belarus leads Europe in the share of obese and overweight...
A number of Belarusian lecturers who were particularly vocal in criticising the administration of the European Humanities University - a Belarusian university in exile - will no longer teach there after this summer. Their departure is the result of a...
Budzma campaign and the Belarusian Language Society launch the second season of a weekly Kraj.BY program which is online-travel throughout Belarus. Legal Transformation Center Lawtrend has released the latest data of its monitoring on information provided at the official state...
