Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine is rocking the centralized political system he has built over nearly a quarter-century in power. As with the collapse of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, Moscow’s weakening has energized suppressed secessionist sentiments.
A 69-year-old retired teacher has been sentenced by a Belarusian court to two years in prison for comments that "insulted" disputed leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka and a KGB officer killed in a police shoot-out at a Minsk apartment that also left an IT worker dead.
The construction of a planned barbed-wired fence along Finland's long border with Russia will start early next year, Finnish border guard officials said on November 18, amid concerns in the Nordic country over the changing security environment in Europe.
Polish officials have inspected the initial installation phase of high-tech monitoring equipment along a metal wall on the border with Belarus geared toward preventing thousands of migrants from crossing into the EU country.