A fighter plane had intercepted the Ryanair plane carrying the dissident journalist, making it land in Minsk, in an incident that caused an international shock.

The leader had not been seen in public for a week since taking part in the Victory Day celebrations in Minsk and Moscow, where he looked pale and bloated.

Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko skipped festivities celebrating the ex-Soviet country’s state symbols following reports focusing on his health.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited headquarters of the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, his second trip to the Russian-held territories there since March.

Poland is an important ally of Kyiv in the fight against the Russian invasion and offers shelter to many Ukrainians who have fled.

The comment by Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s ambassador to Belarus, followed Vladimir Putin’s recent statement about plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Russia’s neighbour and ally.

Moscow has already decided to station tactical nukes on Belarus soil, but the leader says he and Putin could bring in longer-range strategic weapons as well.

Russia and Ukraine routinely accuse each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia plant. Fighting around it and worries of a water shortage and that cooling systems could lose power have raised fears of a nuclear disaster.

The announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he intends to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus appears to be another attempt to raise the stakes in the conflict in Ukraine.

One Ukrainian official said Russia ‘took Belarus as a nuclear hostage’ after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin revealed plans on Saturday to station nuclear weapons in Belarus.

A top security adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would destabilise that country.

The Russian president said the US has ‘long placed their tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of their allies’ and that Russia and Belarus ‘agreed that we are to do the same’.

The report said violations appeared to have been part of a campaign of violence and repression intentionally directed at those who opposed President Alexander Lukashenko.

The charges of high treason and ‘conspiracy to seize power’ stem from massive anti-government rallies against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

The founder of the authoritarian nation’s most prominent rights group has repeatedly run into trouble with security forces in Belarus, often described as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’.

Belarusian anti-government activists have claimed responsibility for what they said was a drone attack on a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft at an airfield near the Belarus capital.

Trade likely to be at the front of Lukashenko’s mind when he touches down in the Chinese capital on Tuesday, analyst says.

Minsk says the two allies will conduct air force drills January 16-February 1using all Belarus military airfields and began joint army exercises involving a ‘mechanised brigade subdivision’.

Ales Byalyatski is one of the most prominent of Belarusians detained during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in 2020 – he faces from seven to 12 years in jail on charges of financing protests and smuggling money.

The Ukrainian S-300 air defence missile was shot down during one of Russia’s heaviest aerial onslaughts against Ukraine since the start of the war in February.

In an interview with state TV, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the absence of negotiations to end the Ukraine war isn’t Russia’s fault but rather that of Kyiv and its Western allies.

President Vladimir Putin said the situation in four areas of Ukraine that Moscow has declared are part of Russia was ‘extremely difficult’ and ordered security services to combat new threats.

Russian President Vladimir Putin heads to Belarus for his first visit in 3½ years, fuelling Ukrainian fears he intends to pressure his ally to join a new offensive.

Ukraine’s leadership discussed border security following a flurry of military activity in neighbouring Belarus, an ally of Moscow.