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Russia has increased gasoline imports from neighbouring Belarus in March to tackle the risk of shortages in its domestic market because of unscheduled repairs at Russian refineries after drone attacks, four industry and trade sources said on Wednesday. Usually Russia is a net exporter of fuel and a supplier to international markets, but the disruption of Russian refining has forced oil companies to import. Already Russia banned gasoline exports from March 1 to try to secure enough fuel for its domestic market after repeated Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries since the start of the year. Russia normally imports very...

Belarus' strongman dictator Alexander Lukashenko has seemingly undermined Russia's claims that Ukraine was behind the deadly Moscow massacre, after revealing the four terrorists tried fleeing to Belarus, not Ukraine.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed a law on Wednesday that grants him lifelong immunity from criminal prosecution. -snip- the law signed by Lukashenko on Wednesday states that once a president leaves office, they "cannot be held accountable for actions committed in connection with exercising his presidential powers." The law also gives former presidents and their families lifelong protection, along with medical care, life and health insurance. AP also said that former presidents will now also receive a lifelong seat in the upper house of parliament upon resigning.

Russia maintains that it is in control of all nuclear weapons stored in Belarus, its closest international ally. The president of Belarus announced this week that the country has received tactical nuclear weapons transported from Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that the intensely-regulated weapons were brought to Belarus in October.

Vladimir Putin has been mocked by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko over Russia’s shortage of eggs. Mr Putin’s ally confronted him over the skyrocketing prices of the kitchen staple, with the entire exchange caught on camera at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session in St Petersburg. At the event Mr Putin, 71, was also spotted bizarrely stretching his feet as he waited to greet several fellow ex-Soviet republic leaders, including Mr Lukashenko, 69. Former farm boss Mr Lukashenko teased the Russian leader that Belarus’s agricultural industry was in better shape than Russia’s. He said: ‘We have achieved a high level of...

Vladimir Putin meets Alexander Lukashenko in September Vladimir Putin's close ally Alexander Lukashenko has made a huge intervention after warning Russia and Ukraine are locked in a "serious stalemate" as he called for sit-down peace talks and an end to the brutal war. -snip- He said in a question-and-answer video posted on the website of the Belarusian state news agency BelTA: "There are enough problems on both sides and in general, the situation is now seriously stalemate - no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position. "They’re there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying....

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said over the weekend. "There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position," Lukashenko said. "They're there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying." -snip- "We need to sit down at the negotiating table and come...

Belarus expects to receive $640 million from Russia in 2024 to compensate for losses sustained by its oil refineries, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Monday, citing the Belarusian Finance Ministry. Belarus used to import discounted oil from Moscow for years and resold some of it, as well as oil products refined from the Russian crude, on to Europe. Russia stopped the practice in 2019 amid changes to its tax policy, resulting in costs of $330 million to Belarus that year, according to Minsk's estimates. The row between the two states even led to major Russian oil companies suspending...

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state after a deadly plane crash believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the volatile chief of the mercenary group. Putin signed the decree bringing in the change with immediate effect on Friday after the Kremlin said that Western suggestions that Prigozhin had been killed on its orders were an "absolute lie".

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has threatened to deploy nuclear weapons on NATO nations if he is faced with aggression, amid heightened tension on the country's border with Poland. Warning the West in an interview with state-run BelTA, the Belarusian leader said he would deploy nuclear weapons 'immediately once aggression is launched against us'. 'If aggression against our country is launched from the side of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, we will immediately respond with everything we have,' he said.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has reportedly kicked the Wagner PMC out of Belarus, after refusing to finance the Russian mercenaries. (snip) But reports have now emerged suggesting Lukashenko has refused to finance their stay in the country and the mercenaries are being 'bussed' back to Russia for a “vacation.” According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, operations to remove all Wagner Group men began earlier in the month, with a second phase to remove the rest going into effect this weekend. Wagner’s services don’t come cheap. Putin recently admitted that the Kremlin has spent around $1bn on the private military company...

“Pot, meet Kettle.”Are we actually living in the Twilight Zone?Yesterday, the U.S. Embassy in Belarus released a condemnatory statement against the “Lukashenka regime” because according to our federal government, the country’s 2020 presidential election was “fraudulent” and since then, state authorities have allegedly waged a persecutory campaign against their own people for peacefully protesting, demanding change, and “exercising their freedom of expression.”(Now, this is not to affirm or deny the narrative set forth about the sequence of events, merely the U.S. government’s response to what they allege to be true.)Here is the opening text:Three years ago, tens of thousands of...

MINSK, August 1. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he plans to expedite the establishment of a contracted army using PMC Wagner fighters billeted in Belarus as the backbone of these forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in St. Petersburg on July 23 with Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who was quoted as saying in an apparent joking tone that fighters of Russia's Wagner mercenary group who are now training Belarus's army were keen to push across the border into NATO member Poland. "The Wagner guys have started to stress us. They want to go west. 'Let's go on a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszow'," he was quoted as saying. Poland is moving extra troops toward the border with Belarus in response to the arrival of Wagner forces who relocated there after...

More mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner military contractor rolled into Belarus on Monday, a monitoring group said, continuing their relocation to the ex-Soviet nation following last month’s short-lived mutiny. Belaruski Hajun, a Belarusian activist group that monitors troops movements in Belarus, said that a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying Russian flags and Wagner insignia entered the country, heading toward a field camp that Belarusian authorities had offered to the company. The group said it was a third Wagner convoy entering the country since last week. (snip) Putin’s comments appeared to reflect his efforts to secure the loyalty of Wagner mercenaries,...

Belarus’ dictatorial president Alexander Lukasheko is getting ever closer to the Kremlin - this week he even brokered a truce between the Wagner group and president Putin to prevent a march on Moscow. But Belarusians don’t want to be a vassal of Russia and - outside of this small country’s borders - a group of exiled pro-democracy protesters are taking up arms and training themselves to fight back. So can they overthrow Europe's last dictator? And if they do reclaim their country, could it be pivotal to the war in Ukraine?

Update from Ukraine | The Failed Military Coup in Ruzzia | Debrief | Prigozhyn lost the war https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCiO-pYBrRs The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 24th June 2023 – 22:00 (Kyiv time). https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-486-summary/ *** Great interactive map with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

Lukashenka agreed with Prigozhin to stop military convoys According to the press service of the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, having enlisted the support of Vladimir Putin, spent the whole day negotiating with the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin. As a result, the parties came to a mutually beneficial agreement, after which the movement of armed persons of the Wagner company on Russian territory was stopped. https://twitter.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1672655608506466306

Civil War Starts in Russia after Russian forces attacked the Wagner PMC, which has now led to outright war being called between the Russian government and forces loyal to Prighozin. Contact with Vladimir Putin has been lost for now with military blockades being set up around Moscow, and firefights breaking out in the Rostov region of Russia. Meanwhile Ukraine has declared a General offensive across all fronts and is reported to be making massive progress.

Russia has already stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Vladimir Putin says. Speaking at an economic forum, he said they would only be used if Russia's territory or state was threatened. The US government says there is no indication the Kremlin plans to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine. "We don't see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Mr Putin's comments. Belarus is a key Russian ally and served as a launchpad for Mr Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year....