Lithuania
Russia’s Blockade of Ukraine Is ‘War Crime,’ Top E.U. Official Says
LONDON — The Russian blockade that has stopped Ukraine from exporting its vast storehouses of grain and other goods, threatening starvation in distant corners of the globe, is a “war crime,” the European Union’s top foreign policy official declared Monday. The remarks by the official, Josep Borrell Fontelles, were among the strongest language from a […]
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How Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot Escaped From Russia
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Maria V. Alyokhina first came to the attention of the Russian authorities — and the world — when her punk band and performance art group Pussy Riot staged a protest against President Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. For that act of rebellion in 2012, she was sentenced to […]
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Ukraine War Divides Orthodox Faithful
In a small parish in northern Italy affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, the mostly Ukrainian worshipers — IT specialists, migrant factory laborers, nurses and cleaners — decided to repudiate the full-throated support for the war in Ukraine from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. The Moscow Patriarch had repeatedly bestowed blessings on the Russian military, giving […]
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NATO Countries Pour Weapons Into Ukraine, Risking Conflict With Russia
Sweden, not a member of NATO, announced that it would send Ukraine 5,000 antitank weapons, 5,000 helmets, 5,000 items of body armor and 135,000 field rations, plus about $52 million for the Ukrainian military. Finland, similarly, has said it will deliver 2,500 assault rifles and 150,000 rounds of ammunition for them, 1,500 antitank weapons and […]
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Lithuania Welcomes Belarusians as It Rebuffs Middle Easterners
RUKLA, Lithuania — The emigrants hitchhiked overnight to the Dysna River, the border of their native Belarus. They thought they could wade across the frigid waters, but the spot they chose in haste proved to be so deep they had to swim. On the other side, at dawn two weeks ago, they found a house […]
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Limping and Penniless, Iraqis Deported From Belarus Face Bleak Futures
ERBIL, Iraq — It was cold in Belarus, bitterly cold, but at least it offered hope, however illusory. Nazar Shamsaldin was one of thousands of Iraqis who made their way to the Eastern European country in recent months, hoping it would prove a jumping-off point to new lives in the West, only to become pawns […]
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Melee Erupts Between Migrants in Belarus and Polish Border Forces
BRUZGI, Belarus — He has spent 28 nights, each colder than the one before, choking on campfire smoke and despair on Europe’s doorstep. He made it across the razor wire into Poland three times, only to be grabbed in the forest and forced back into Belarus. His visa for Belarus expired 12 days ago, leaving […]
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