Eastern Europe

Belarus Country Report: November 2025

By Juliana Girotto Image: Lev Karavanov/Mostphotos Genocide Watch is issuing a Genocide Warning for Belarus. Five years since mass protests swept Belarus in 2020, the Lukashenko government has deepened its repression and involvement in human rights violations. Belarusians are denied the ability to exercise basic rights, including freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. In the February 2024 parliamentary elections and the January 2025 presidential election,

Genocide Watch

Mar 23

Russia dubs Narva, Estonia a 'people's republic'

Masked Russian "Little Green Men" in Narva, Estonia Copyright AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, file Euronews March 19, 2026 By Johanna Urbancik & Franziska Müller A pro-Russian online campaign is casting the Estonian city of Narva as a "people's republic", spreading propaganda and at times calling for violence and sabotage. A flag, a coat of arms, freshly drawn borders – and rhetoric that echoes the playbook of the so-called "people's republics" in eastern Ukraine and Russian-occupied

Johanna Urbancik & Franziska Müller | Euronews

Mar 23

Poland pulls out of treaty banning antipersonnel mines

Poland needed to defend itself against Russia, a country which “has very aggressive intentions vis-à-vis its neighbors,” the country's deputy defense minister said. An unmanned mine-scattering vehicle is pictured during an open test of unmanned weapon systems conducted by the Polish Armaments Group on Thursday. Wojtek Radwanski / AFP via Getty Images Poland will use antipersonnel as well as anti-tank land mines to defend its eastern border against the growing threat from Rus

AP News

Feb 21

France Grants Safe Haven To Anti-Kremlin Couple Detained By ICE

Tens of thousands of Russians have applied for political asylum in the United States since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Many detainees have been subjected to arbitrary detention (Michael M. Santiago) France has granted safe haven to an anti-Kremlin Russian activist couple detained by ICE in the United States, but his wife was nowhere to be found after he landed in Paris on Monday. After France issued the couple humanitarian visas to avoid them being deported to Russi

Anna Smolchenko | AFP

Feb 16

Italy Probes ‘Sniper Tourism’ During Bosnia War

Italy probes suspect in Sarajevo ‘sniper tourism’ during Bosnia war: Report Report says an 80-year-old suspect faces charges on several counts, including premeditated murder. 5 Feb 2026, Al Jazeera The Human Hunters of Sarajevo / True Crime Reports Prosecutors in Italy have placed a man under investigation as part of a probe into alleged “sniper tourism” in Sarajevo during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, the Reuters news agency reports. Sources told Reuters on Wednesday that th

Al Jazeera

Feb 4

Estonian 'fascist' calls for Russian invasion

Prosecutor's Office crest. Source: Ken Mürk/ERR A Kohtla-Järve politician who is a self-described fascist and who has called for a Russian invasion of Estonia may face a fine or even detention for hate speech over social media, Delfi reported . Aleksandr Sahno, 32, who ran in last autumn's local elections in the Ida-Viru County town of Kohtla-Järve, where picked up eight votes, came to the attention of the authorities after he shared materials on social media supporting Russi

ERR News

Feb 4

'We need support, we need help,' Ukraine energy provider CEO says during Kyiv blackout

Copyright Danylo Antoniuk/2026 The AP. All rights reserved By Gavin Blackburn Published on 22/01/2026 - 15:35 GMT+1 Russia has repeatedly hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure throughout the nearly four-year war, but Kyiv says this winter has been the toughest yet. The CEO of Ukraine's largest energy provider DTEK is in Davos and spoke to Euronews about what an energy ceasefire can mean for Ukrainians. Maksym Timchenko's comments come a day after Ukraine's President Volodymyr

Euronews

Jan 22

Latvia's Possible Withdrawal From Domestic Violence Treaty

Women’s rights activists protest against Latvia’s possible withdrawal from domestic violence treaty By Claudia Ciobanu National flag flutters over Latvian central bank headquarters in Riga, Latvia April 9, 2019. Photo by Ints Kalnins/ Reuters WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Women’s rights activists taped their mouths shut at a demonstration Wednesday outside the Latvian parliament to protest the country’s possible withdrawal from an international treaty aimed at supporting women who ar

PBS News

Oct 22, 2025