Belarus has signaled a growing rift with Russia, saying President Alyaksandr Lukashenka would not attend a security summit in Moscow. Lukashenka had been due to take part in the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), during which an agreement on the creation of a collective security force was signed.
Engagement and dialogue will be the hallmarks of the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama in its approach to regimes struggling with democracy and human rights, according to Karen Stewart, the principal assistant deputy secretary at the U.S. State Department's bureau of democracy, human rights, and labor. Stewart recently spoke with RFE/RL's Brussels correspondent, Ahto Lobjakas, about the Middle East, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Belarus, and well as attempts by the United Nations to tackle global rights issues.
Russia has banned hundreds of dairy products from Belarus, citing health concerns. But the move is widely seen as retaliation for Minsk's defiant tone and recent coziness with Europe. Not for the first time, Russia has allowed its public health chief to flex his muscles amid high-profile diplomatic spats with its neighbors.
A Moscow court has found three Russians guilty of human trafficking, illegal incarceration, and the organization of a prostitution ring in Moscow, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.
The city of over 1 million people has no subway or tram system, and its citizens are currently heavily reliant on taxis and minibuses.
A U.S. lawyer serving three years in a Belarussian jail for industrial espionage has begun a hunger strike to prompt authorities to review his case under a recent amnesty law, his lawyer has said.
As voters went to cast their ballots in European Parliament elections, RFE/RL spoke to British historian Timothy Garton Ash about the definition of Europe. Garton Ash explained how a common vision defines Europe as much as geography, and why the EU must stay true to its philosophy of expansion.
President Lukashenka said Israel is not an alien country to Belarusians because "tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of our compatriots are living there and their fates are important for us."
Belarus's president declared an end on May 29 to "begging" to Russia and told his government to ignore Moscow's decision to shelve a $500 million loan and turn elsewhere to find credits.
An activist of the Youth Front in the Belarusian city of Baranavichi has been expelled from the local university for his political activities, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reports.
Russian Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin offered a harsh assessment of Belarus's economic prospects in the runup to a reportedly frosty meeting later the same day between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
In its latest report on the state of rights around the world, Amnesty International warns that many governments have failed abysmally to protect human rights, human lives, and livelihoods threatened by the economic downturn. The group also says the term "security" has been misused to undermine rights.
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