an independent, cross-border journalism initiative dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting and independent press in the Visegrad Region
A year after the introduction of sanctions on Russia and Belarus, companies trading Russian and Belarusian goods are operating in Poland without hindrance
A new Soviet Union in our neighborhood? Source: New Design Illustrations / Shutterstock
The last few hundred years of Russian history have been characterized by well-documented cycles: consolidation, expansion, collapse. Strengthening, expansion, collapse. The 1990s were a period of collapse, the 2000s of consolidation. Now is a time of expansion – writes Anton Bendarjevskiy.
Source: Karl-Erik Leik and Mart Nigola / Delfi Estonia
We have obtained a document that shows how Russia plans to take control of Belarus. The strategy, written for Vladimir Putin’s administration, envisions the Russian incorporation of Belarus by 2030.
Not long after imposing sanctions on wood imports from Russia and Belarus, Europe saw an influx of wood supposedly coming from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Razor wire fencing on the Belarusian-Polish border. Source: Karol Grygoruk / RATS Agency
Our investigation reveals locations of transit nodes used by Belarusians to smuggle migrants through the border and their connection to Belarusian military infrastructure.
Mural depicting Alaksandr Lukashenko in Gdansk, Poland, 19.08.2020. Source: Lukasz Dejnarowicz / FORUM
Lukashenko is no longer in the business of engaging in politics or diplomacy. His actions are all about revenge, destruction and diversion, using violent tactics to target Belorussians themselves and his nation’s European neighbors.
Rally in support of Sviatlana Tsikhanoŭskaya and the joint campaign headquarters. 30 July 2020, Minsk, Belarus || By Homoatrox - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The week of protests has shown that the situation is completely different than the well-known crises of the past: the revolution of Solidarity in Poland, the Arab Spring, the Ukrainian Maidan.