br23 blog - minsk, belarus

Dozens of members of the European Parliament were wearing Belarusian whte-red-white scarfs today, with the inscription “Solidarity with Belarus” in red letters. In the morning the president of the European Parliament gave a warm welcome to Alexander Milinkevich who was also wearing the white-red-white scarf.

Vice-speaker of the EU Parliament talking about Belarus

Bogdan Klich, a well-known […]

During this presidential “election” I was reading William Golding’s Lord of the flies.
The book is essentially about “a bunch of children on deserted island revert to primitive ways.” English-speaking schoolchildren study it in high school and probably remember the main message of the book: the parody on Victorian “Coral island”, the inner corruption of […]

Today Alexander Milinkevich met with the EU president, Austrian Kanzler Wolfgang Schuessel in Wien, Austria. After talking with the EU president Belarus’ opposition leader met with several other Austrian and EU officials, as well as members of the Austrian parliament. The main issue of the talks was to inform EU leadership about the situation in […]

Today, Alexander Milinkevich met with the Polish president Lech Kaczynski and Polish prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz in Warsaw. And this is already second such meeting in the last several months. Together with the Polish prime minister Milinkevich signed an agreement that Polish government will provide scholarships in Poland to Belarusian students who were (or will […]

Since Alexander Lukashenka banned exit polls in Belarus, and since the official votes are massively falsified and no one even counted the ballots, there’s no way to know how people of Belarus actually voted on March 19.
Well. Except for exit polls abroad, at the embassies. You can get a general picture of the scale of […]

Vincuk Viachorka, the deputy Head of Milinkevich’s campaign office in Belarus, who was arrested yesterday, was sentenced today to 15 days of prison by Minsk City court, together with several other top members of Milinkevich’s team. (a bit of math: elections are in 10 days, and he has to spend 14 days more behind […]

Today’s New York Times carries an article about Alexander Milinkevich and our presidential “elections” that will take place in just 20 days. An American journalist Steven Lee Myers made a pretty good overview of the current political situation in the country. It’s a highly recommended reading for anybody who’s interested:
On March 19, Aleksandr Milinkevich will […]

All four potential candidates who’d collected more than 100,000 signatures were registered today by the Central Election Committee as presidential candidates. It means they can officially start campaigning.
Alexander Lukashenka is an authoritarian ruler who’ll be using falsifications schemes and all kinds of illegal means to claim another “elegant victory” (just like he did in 2001).
Siarhiej […]

Belarus: Opposition Politicians Embrace Internet, Despite Digital Divide
With newspapers, radio, and TV under state control, the Belarusian opposition is using new technologies to get their message out — in particular the Internet. All the candidates campaigning in the 19 March presidential election have launched websites, with many users taking part in online discussions. However, these […]

Ze German media is still silent about Milinkevich. But I’ve finally found a photo from Angela Merkel’s meeting with him. The photo is taken in a building opposite of the Bundestag. I don’t even remember what’s there. Is it the Bundeskanzlerin’s office?

Alexander Milinkevich and Angela Merkel
And here are two more photos from his EU meetings:

Alexander […]