Despite legal protections, the Belarusian state is building a sprawling academy complex for the KGB on the grounds of a historic Catholic cemetery in the heart of Minsk, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service has found. Plans call for a swimming pool, a shooting gallery, and office suites for senior officials.
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A recent announcement that 177 cities, towns and villages will lose their “contaminated” status on January 1, 2027 affects some 566,400 people from a total of 930,600 living on Belarusian territory that was contaminated by the 1986 nuclear accident in Soviet Ukraine.
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Belarus’s Minsk Automobile Plant is under Western sanctions, limiting who can buy the vehicles produced there. That may be the reason trucks branded with the previously unknown “HAL” badge have been spotted amid strengthening trade relations between Belarus and Indonesia.
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In this week's Wider Europe, Rikard Jozwiak drills down on two issues: the EU's new enlargement strategy and the EU's game plan to keep Russia (and Belarus) out of sports.
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In mid-September, Belarus released 25 prisoners held in politically linked cases after the United States agreed to lift sanctions on two major Belarusian companies. Now three US senators from both major parties are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to pursue a similar approach with Azerbaijan, where rights groups say some 300 political prisoners, including journalists and activists, are behind bars.
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In this week's Wider Europe, Rikard Jozwiak drills down on whether the EU could drop some of its Belarus sanctions and the road map for the most advanced EU candidates.
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US President Donald Trump has said a “massive deal” is being discussed with Belarus, under which it would provide cheaper potash supplies than Canada. But questions since the announcement have swirled over whether Belarus can replace the world's largest potash producer to meet US needs.
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