An echelon with Russian military equipment intended for a regional grouping of troops arrived in Belarus on January 6, TASS reports with reference to the Ministry of Defense of the republic. The day before, according to the agency, the Belarusian military department reported on the continued build-up of the regional grouping by Moscow and Minsk. The ministry noted that this is being done "in the interests of strengthening the protection and defense of the Union State."
Joint tactical flight exercises of aviation units of the Armed Forces of the two countries took place in Belarus with Russia.
In February, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko declared his readiness to fight with the Russians from the territory of the republic only in case of aggression against his country. This was reported by the BelTA news agency.
The prosecutor's office demanded that the leader of the Belarusian opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya be sentenced in absentia to 19 years in a penal colony and a fine of 37 thousand Belarusian rubles (about 1.1 million rubles). This is reported by RBC. Former Culture Minister Pavel Latushko, who was a member of the Coordinating Council of the Belarusian opposition, was asked by the prosecution to appoint 19 years in prison, as well as to ban him from holding positions related to the performance of organizational, administrative and economic duties for 5 years. For other members of the Coordinating Council, Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky, the prosecutor requested 12 years in prison. In the presidential elections held in Belarus on August 9, 2020, Alexander Lukashenko won for the sixth time, gaining 80.1% of the vote. Tikhanovskaya, who decided to take part in the elections instead of her arrested husband Sergei, took second place. After the announcement of the results and the rejection of complaints, mass opposition protests took place in the country. Its leaders created a Coordinating Council, which was headed by Tikhanovskaya. Subsequently, the rallies subsided, and Tikhanovskaya, Latushko, Kovalkova and Dylevsky left the country. All the accused are charged with conspiracy to seize power by unconstitutional means, creation and leadership of an extremist group, public calls for sanctions, incitement of social discord. Also, a number of defendants are additionally charged with certain articles, for example, Tikhanovskaya is accused of treason against the state, Latushko is accused of corruption. A new trial of the oppositionist Tikhanovsky has begun in Belarus. The court of the city of Zhodino in the Minsk region has begun consideration of a new criminal case against opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky. Now he is accused of disobeying the administration of the correctional institution. At the moment, the oppositionist is serving an 18-year sentence in the case of preparing mass riots in Belarus in 2020.
