Who ate all the Minsk pies?

US-Belarus negotiations and the latest prisoner releases, and what it means for European policy.

America considers letting Lukashenka get up off the naughty step. A comment on Belarus-US relations and sanctions.

A US delegation went to Minsk. It gave Lukashenka a photo opportunity, the US something to crow about, and caused a headache for everyone else.

Trump and Putin spoke on the phone. The US president may be carrying on different negotiations from the ones reported. A contrarian's view.

Belarus's dictator hopes next weekend's election will allow him to re-legitimise his grasp on power. Little suggests that will happen.

On the legitimacy of assassinations. Plus a few thoughts on prisoner exchanges amid concerns foreign citizens are seen as targets for arrest

Belarus is the first European state to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; Lukashenka's 30 years; and Tsikhanouskaya visits the UK.

One of the biggest challenges since I started this blog is that there is so much going on in, or otherwise affecting, eastern Europe and...

This blog post is about the sentencing of Vladimir Kara-Murza, and about political prisoners in Russia and Belarus. It is also about...