Vladimir putin

Three journalists from Russia's independent TV station Dozhd were detained after being forced to the ground by plainclothes police Sunday afternoon. Maria Kolsenikova, a top associate of Tsikhanouskaya who had been briefly detained on Saturday night, told the station the journalists were seized shortly after interviewing her. … [Read more...] about Belarus election panel claims Lukashenko far ahead in vote

If Bebenin’s “suicide” was meant as a warning to Sannikov, it did not work. His name went on the ballot. On the night of December 19, as he was addressing the crowd at Independence Square, Lukashenko’s men pushed him to the ground and struck him repeatedly on the head and legs. Sannikov began to bleed profusely. Khalip, Sannikov’s wife, tried to drive him to a hospital; both were detained en route. No medical treatment was given. In the weeks following their arrest, Belarus’s secret police—which still goes by the Soviet name of KGB—tried to seize their three-year-old son, Danil. Because Danil’s parents were going to be incarcerated for years, Lukashenko reasoned, it was in the child’s interest to be raised in an orphanage. In the ensuing global outcry, Khalip was released, placed under house arrest, and given custody of her son. Sannikov, however, was sentenced to a five-year term. Alla, his mother, did not know where he was. … [Read more...] about Forget Kim Jong Un—China’s New Favorite Dictator Is Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko.

Putting China's rhetoric ahead of -- or even on the same level -- as Russia's ongoing disinformation campaigns is irresponsible. Russia, according to the statement, is "using a range of measures" to attack Biden and support Trump. This includes Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian official, who's spreading claims about corruption to undermine Biden's candidacy. Derkach has told the Washington Post that he has sent documents to a Senate committee still investigating whether Hunter Biden's involvement in a Ukrainian gas company posed a conflict of interest when Joe Biden was vice president. … [Read more...] about The foreign threats to the US election

Democrats and Republicans remained far apart last week on the outline of a new pandemic relief bill. The jobless rate in July, although modestly lower than in June, was 10.2% -- a number slightly higher than the peak of the Great Recession. But there was no agreement in Congress on extending any portion of the $600 a week in extra aid for the unemployed. On Saturday, Trump signed executive actions that could provide additional aid and defer payroll taxes for some workers, but they face serious hurdles. … [Read more...] about Donald Trump’s five revealing words

Democrats in Congress who have participated in recent classified briefings on election interference have expressed alarm at what they have heard. They have urged the U.S. intelligence community to make public some of their concerns in part to avoid a repeat of 2016, when Obama administration officials were seen as slow and overly deliberate in their public discussion of active Russian measures in that year’s election. … [Read more...] about Sen. Ron Johnson denies getting dirt on Biden from Ukrainian lawmaker, blasts Blumenthal for ‘twisting’ classified briefings