Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova Report 31.07.2012 A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. For more stories on Eastern Europe, please visit and bookmark our Eastern Europe page .

 

Belarus Silly Dictator Story #11: Tough Day For Dictators Banned From Olympics In the spirit of the Olympics and for all the banned leaders (we mean you, Assad and Mugabe) a cartoon by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service says it all. More   Jailed Prominent Belarus Opposition Activist Asks For Clemency Jailed Belarusian opposition activist Syarhey Kavalenka, whose health deteriorated after a lengthy hunger strike earlier this year, has asked President Alyaksandr Lukashenka for clemency. More   Lukashenka Denied Olympic Accreditation Russia's Olympics chief says Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has been denied accreditation by London Olympics organizers to attend the 2012 games, which officially begin in the British capital on July 27. More   Olympic Medalists Set To Cash In At London 2012 The International Olympic Committee has never given cash prizes to medalists. But many countries are now promising lucrative bonus awards to their athletes who win Olympic medals at London 2012. More   Amnesty International Concerned Over New Probe Of Jailed Belarus Activist Amnesty International is expressing concern over the new probe launched by Belarusian authorities of the jailed leader of the unregistered Young Front opposition organization, Zmitser Dashkevich. More   Silly Dictator Story #9: 'Go To The Olympics They Said, It Will Be Fun They Said' Belarus' strongman raises the stakes for his country's athletes, while rewording the Olympic motto. More   Belarus Probes Teddy Bear Caper It Claims Never Happened Thousands of people post pictures of teddy bears on the Internet daily, yet only one has found himself locked away in a Belarusian KGB prison for doing so. More   In Minsk, Eurovision Winner Loreen Expresses Support For Political Prisoners A day after performing at a government-supported music festival in Belarus, the winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Swedish pop singer Loreen, met with human rights activists at the Swedish Embassy in Minsk, where she issued a statement in support of Belarusian political prisoners. More   'Teddybear Airdrop' Takes Aim At Belarus Denials Faced with denials from defense authorities in Minsk and skepticism from state-controlled media in Belarus, a Swedish public relations firm is releasing evidence it says proves that it dropped 1,000 teddy bears into Belarus as a show of solidarity with pro-democracy activists in Belarus. More   (Belarus Can't Get No) Satisfaction As the world marks the 50th anniversary of the first live performance by the Rolling Stones, at the Marquee Club in London on July 12, 1962, we remember a small but significant gesture by Mick Jagger in support of a democratic Belarus. More   Ukraine Kyiv Joins Olympic Biographies Row Ukraine has joined Georgia in requesting corrections from London Olympic organizers to some athlete biographies that erroneously list their birthplaces as Russia. More   Olympic Profile: Ukraine’s Diving Team Ukraine’s Olympic diving team held an intense training session ahead of the London Olympic Games. (Video by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service) More   Imagine That! Ukraine's quadSquad Wins Prestigious Technology Competition A team of students from Ukraine were the big winners this week at this year's Imagine Cup, a showcase sponsored by Microsoft for student-designed innovations that are meant to "unleash the power of technology to benefit their community or, perhaps, the entire planet." More