Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has vowed to work with Belarus, an ex-Soviet state long at odds with Washington, to defeat "hegemonistic" U.S. imperialism.
Belarus has already seen major reverberations from the Independence Day explosion that injured dozens of concertgoers in Minsk. But the authorities' willingness to haul in opposition sympathizers and cast a massive dragnet could send shivers down the spines of government friends and foes alike.
In the wake of the Minsk bombing, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka fired two top aides and brought in some newcomers. But who are these people? And what do the changes really mean?
Four detained opposition activists in Belarus have been released without charge after being questioned about a bomb explosion at a concert attended by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has surprised many by including opposition members on local election commissions ahead of the parliamentary elections. But was it anything more than a routine propaganda exercise?
Police in Belarus dispersed a protest by dozens of opposition activists denouncing what they said was the detention of comrades after a bomb blast at a concert attended by President Alyasandr Lukashenka.
Official reaction to the Minsk bomb blast suggests the damage could extend far beyond authorities' self-serving explanation of "hooliganism."
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has sacked his chief of staff and the head of the security council after last week's Minsk blast.
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said there would be no clampdown on his opponents after a bomb explosion wounded 50 people at a concert he attended.
Officials said a homemade bomb exploded in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, injuring at least 50 people. The blast happened after midnight, at an outdoor concert to celebrate the country’s Independence Day.
Would you like to live permanently in another country other than your own? If you're an average citizen of the world, the chances are better than one-in-four that the answer is yes.
Belarusians are quipping that the Vatican's second-in-command was lured to Minsk only because both states are ruled autocratically and neither is bound by commitments to groups like the Council of Europe.
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![Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami called on the authorities to keep "foreign networks" blocked, saying they were "teaching people to riot [and] commit crimes."](https://gdb.rferl.org/7F216FC6-9CCC-4673-83BD-E9AAA879C766_cx34_cy13_cw66_w100_r1.jpg)
![Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami called on the authorities to keep "foreign networks" blocked, saying they were "teaching people to riot [and] commit crimes."](https://gdb.rferl.org/7F216FC6-9CCC-4673-83BD-E9AAA879C766_cx34_cy13_cw66_w33_r1.jpg)
