Belarusian authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka has signed a law that will allow the banning of media from “unfriendly countries,” his office said on July 1. “The law provides for the possibility of imposing a ban on the activities of foreign media...in the event that foreign states display unfriendly actions against Belarusian media,” a decree states. Lukashenka has stepped up his crackdown on dissent and media since an August 2020 presidential election in which he was officially announced as the winner but which opponents and most Western nations have refused to acknowledge, citing election fraud and the crackdown, and imposed sanctions on Minsk. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, click here.
