Rights groups, activists and independent media in Russia and Belarus endured increased government scrutiny, repressive laws and even were shut down and forced to operate from exile abroad.

Several players at Australian Open 2025 have been competing without a national flag, with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka included.

With many of his political opponents either jailed or exiled abroad, Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed “Europe’s last dictator,” is all but certain to add a seventh term.

and pushed for abandoning the country’s red-and-white national flag in favor of one similar to what it used as a Soviet republic. Belarus' top security agency kept its fearsome Soviet-era name ...