Belarus: a look inside Europe's 'last dictatorship'
Lukashenko's foreign policy is defined by greed and fear. Meanwhile, beyond geopolitics, average people live in the shadow of the country's terrible 20th century history.
Agenda
Migration row at centre of EU summit This Week
EU leaders will try to tackle key migration issues and help save Merkel from a full-blown government crisis at one and half EU summits this week.
Greece and creditors proclaim 'end of crisis'
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Belarus - Europe's last dictatorship
Caught between the competing geopolitical interests of its neighbours, Belarus President Alexander Lukashanko has managed to position himself as a strategic buffer between Europe and Russia. EUobserver's Nikolaj Nielsen examines life - political, economic and cultural - under this autocrat.
About Nikolaj Nielsen
Nikolaj Nielsen is a Danish-American journalist working for EUobserver in Brussels. He won a King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.
EUobserver Investigative Reports
'Belarus - Europe's last dictatorship' is the second in a series of investigative reports by EUobserver. The report sheds light on Europe's most isolated nation and EU policy towards it. It is published in two parts.
Lithuania and Poland complicit in Belarus crackdown
Lithuania and Poland handed over confidential bank details to Belarus that led to the arrest of human rights defender, Ales Bialistki.
Who is Lukashenko anyway?
Eighteen years and still in power, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko retains a mesmerising hold on a country which glorifies Soviet-era rule.
Belarus special forces officer: why I fled to the EU
A former officer in the 'Diamond' - Lukashenko's elite bodyguard - who lives in exile in the EU, says he "cannot remain indifferent" to the brutality of the regime.
'Lukashenko put cucumbers in my trunk'
Belarus' former leader - Stanislav Shushkevich - says Lukashenko is an "arse-kisser" whose power will wane if the EU imposes economic sanctions.
Belarus underground culture defies KGB goons
Underground culture is flourishing in the heart of Belarus despite regime attempts to establish control.
Belarus, EU sanctions and the $1mn bounty
Even as Lukashenko becomes increasingly cruel and unusual, the EU capital is seeing an unprecedented amount of lobbying on his behalf.
EU billions flow to Lukashenko despite sanctions
The EU in March blacklisted 29 Belarusian companies, but the measures are a drop in the ocean in terms of Belarus-EU economic relations.
Earthquake zone on EU border to host Belarus nuclear plant
Belarus' future nuclear plant, situated just 50km from Vilnius, sits on a fault line which saw a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 1909.
EBRD funds pocketed by Lukashenko henchmen, politician says
Money from the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been distributed to individuals connected to Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko, according to a career politician in the regime.
Education used as weapon against young people in Belarus
Young people in Belarus who defy the regime are denied their education, jailed or punished by reprisals against their family. Many of them just want to leave.
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