these are the top stories. in afghanistan at least four people have been killed after two separate explosions in cabell -- in kabul. no group has admitted responsibility. in the south of the country, civilians have been ordered to leave a city as security forces fight back against the taliban. at least 200,000 people live there. at least 40 have been killed in the past 24 hours.

an oil tanker is thought to have been hijacked off the coast of the united arab emirates, with several other ships signaling they are in trouble. britain's maritime agency since a potential hijacked is unfolding. it appears to -- four other ships reported were not under command. a belarusian activist has been found dead in ukraine's capital. she led a kiev-based nonprofit hopes of the russians -- thousands have been forced to flee as a large wildfire moves closer. more than 500 firefighters are trying to contain the blaze in a suburb of the greek capital. in southwest turkey, a forest fire is getting closer to two power stations.

firefighting planes from spain and croatia have flown in to help. those are the headlines. stay tuned now for inside story. ♪ >> sport and politics clash at the olympics. a russian athlete in tokyo seeks protection from poland, saying she was forced to leave the games against her will. what does it say about him and writes in her homeland -- about human rights in her homeland? this is "inside story."

hello and welcome to the program. she went to the tokyo olympics with dreams of representing belarus in the world's biggest sporting event. but it's triggered a political and diplomatic dispute. the sprinter says belarusian officials try to force her to fly home when she complained about being entered into a race she had not prepared for. after seeking protection with japanese police at the airport, she found refuge at the polish embassy in tokyo and was given a humanitarian visa. the belarusian olympic committee says it pulled her from competition because of her psychological state. but the athlete says her life was in danger. >> they made it clear that upon my return home i would definitely face some form of punishment, and that if i refused and ran in the 200 meter race, i would be fired and

kicked out of the national team. there were thinly disguised hints that more would await me. the key phrase was when they said the decision to return home was not taken by us, it was taken by other people, and we were ordered to follow through. at the moment i just want to safely get to europe. i would really like to continue my sporting career because i am only 24, and i have plans to participate in at least two more olympic games. host: the international olympic committee wants answers from belarusian officials and has launched a formal investigation. >> in terms of her safety and security, i think we have dealt most of the issues that needed to be dealt with. we have decided to launch a formal investigation which will be led by the ioc administration . we need to establish the full facts. we need to hear everyone involved. that obviously can take time.

in the meantime, our first concern is for the athlete. host: as the case unfolded in tokyo, in ukraine, a belarusian activist was found dead in a park. she led an organization in kiev which helped belarusians flee persecution. an exiled opposition leader says something similar could happen to her. >> not everybody who is in belarus and who are in exile have to take care of themselves. maybe -- to reach if they want to do something. i can disappear, i understand this. i should do what i am doing. i cannot stop. i feel a responsibility for the future of my country, the same as all those belarusians who are

fighting for their responsibility. i know even if i disappear one day, this movement will continue without me. host: belarusian government's crackdown has worsened since president lukashenko was reelected last august. thousands of protesters were arrested, including several linked to svetlana's campaign. she fled to neighboring with the witty and has been drumming up international pressure for lukashenko to step down. in may, a flight heading to lithuania was forcibly diverted to dtain an opposition journalist -- to detain an opposition journalist on board. last month, belarusian raided the offices of 14 rights groups, nongovernmental organizations, and independent media outlets. let's bring in our guest. joining us from warsaw,

international relations manager of the belarusian sports solidarity foundation, an organization that helps athletes who face repercussions for expressing political views. in brussels, we have chief executive of the center for european policy studies. and also in warsaw, a belarusian opposition leader and former president of candidate. a warm welcome to all of you. so, if i can start with you first, because i know that you have spoken to the athlete. fill us in first of all, what has she told you about all this? >> she is ok. she is now at the polish embassy in tokyo. and she is getting better after

all these shocking events. from a similar and very simple mistake of team officials who failed to ensure -- [indiscernible] they tried to persuade her to participate, but it is not her discipline. there was no politics at the beginning of this story. she just refused on reasonable grounds that she won't risk her health and life for somebody else's mistakes. and all of a sudden the political decision was taken to grab her and take her back to

minsk against her will. she managed to inform others. host: what do you fear is likely to happen to her family as a result of this? >> as far as i understand, her husband already left belarus, and he is in the ukraine. i just wanted to say that he is safe now in ukraine. however, we know the story about vitaly shishov, that he was found dead just several hours ago. he was hanged in the forest near kiev. it was also probably the result of actions of belarus's special forces, or somebody who cooperates with them in ukraine. so, i don't think that somehow

they can influence that. however, we had the news they already approached their parents, trying to suede them, and t -- to persuade them, and then she would come back to minsk. they captured several peoples and they started to speak on camera that everything was fine, we have nothing to worry about in belarus. that happens when lukashenko hijacked an aircraft, and the same thing happened with an mma champion. also appears to be in their hands. he also started to speak what they wanted from him to talk about. so, you know, i think the regime

wants now the same. she will be started to speak good things about them. but nobody trusts that anymore. and i expect that most the decision we taken to expel the belarus national olympic committee from the international olympic committee, and the belarus team will continue to participate under the new flag -- under the neutral flag. host: given what belarus has given to previous dissenters, did this surprise you at all? >> no, not at all. it is totally in-line with expectations of what the lukashenko government is doing. sometimes lukashenko and has government are even sometimes ahead of the other states. they called back the and better because the latvian embassy put on a flag of the opposition. i mean, the eu was late to

reacted that. it was only may 24 there was the plan incidente -- the plane incident. but the eu could do much more. recall all of the diplomats and freeze diplomatic relations entirely with belarus. one of the things we can do, extending a group of people to which sanctions apply. at the moment it is about 166 persons. you could say that is a lot. these people have money in bank accounts in european countries. the assets are present. but i think we can do much more than that, to be much more restrictive and much more forceful against this government. host: what has she told you and your organization about your

long-term plans right now, which he plans to do from here? >> -- what she plans to do from here? >> actually, tomorrow she comes to warsaw and we are planning to arrange a special meeting for her with the ministry of sports and tourism. the problem is to try to meet her requests, because she wants to -- we're ready to help and assist with facilitation of the negotiation with polish officials and the polish embassy. and the athletics federation. my intention is to have a reunion with her family because her husband also had to leave the country because he was afraid of also aggression from

this side of authorities. and then to start thinking about future plans within her career. she told us today that she has plans for the two next olympics. she's quite young and a prospective athlete, so we would like to help to assist her to be prepared for that event. because the main thing here is her life and her career. host: to what extent has her case exposed the tactics under lukashenko? >> that is a good question. i would say a couple words about the symptoms. you know, just before the

collapse of the soviet union, we also knew that belarusian delegations were accompanied by kgb guys. they were looking after sportsmen, so they did not allowed to make contact with representatives of other state. so they were afraid these people would leave the country for the support team. so a bad thing for the rep is -- for the representation -- the reputation of the country. someone fled in paris, left the soviet delegation and state in france at -- and stayed in france at that time. the same symptoms we can see here. we're on the brink of a collapse

of this regime. sportsmen are very proud of this regime. they want to use sports and politics. if a sportman or sportwoman decided to stay away from this country, i think it is very, very symptomatic. and it's kind of a hint this regime will be ending very soon. host: how should the eu react to this now? i know you kind of touched on this a little earlier. part of the reason i am asking is because when the opposition journalist was taken off that lion air flight earlier this year, there was the storm of criticism, internationally, and the eu almost immediately posed economic sanctions on belarus. but clearly it has not changed

their behavior, has it? so what do they do now? >> they have reinforced sanctions what they can do much more. at the diplomatic level they can do more. there is nothing, which this alleged murder of this journalist in ukraine underlines. the secret police, be at the kgb or the secret police of belarus, they are present almost everywhere. as long as we have these diplomatic relations under the cover of diplomats, secret police can be active in all european countries. and they can eventually kidnap them. like russia also used to do in baltic states. if you much more forceful, let's say, trying to trace -- so-called diplomats are doing in different eu countries, or freeze diplomatic relations with the country in question, we can be much more forceful and make sure these things do not happen anymore, or s. anyway --

what belarusian is doing is the same kind. however, i would warn against too much optimism or hope these things will have rapid effects. i am very happy to see the elected president of belarus for -- of belarus was received everywhere around the world. was in ireland. to have a country to do this for years to undermine this regime as soon as we can. i think it may last years, because russia is behind belarus, and is strongly supporting the belarusian regime. we have seen in syria 10 years ago, assad would be forced to

shit down very soon. but he's still there. host: we will come back to that in a moment. should the relevant supporting authorities have done more to help her? this all happened very quickly. the court of arbitration in sport denied her legal bid to run in the 200 meters, saying she did not have enough evidence to make a case for that. you take from that? was there perhaps a reluctance to get involved in a political, diplomatic dispute? >> we saw a good level of engagement of european and international olympic committees who had not so much time to respond. but they interfered immediately, just one hour after they had

been informed about the case of krystsina tsimanouskaya. unfortunately, the delegation tried to do special alterations. krystsina was informed she had to go to the airport just one hour before she was actually taken from her apartment. so, they planned this with no time for response. [indiscernible] they did not dismiss the appeal. they dismissed only one part of the deal, a request for stay. the case is still under consideration of the court, and we would like to have a final decision. just to point out officially

that there was a violation of our rights, and that she was eager to participate in this event. of course, such a system, as we see on this example, should really be working 24 hours, seven days, for sure. unfortunately, due to the differences in time, time shifts, and also due to the complexity of the situation -- there should be some more efficient, urgent remedies taken in this case. but what could have been done by the international sports authorities was actually done. and we're grateful for their

interference and help. the international olympic committee opened a new investigation against national olympic committee of belarus to investigate more formally krystsina tsimanouskaya's case. host: how would you characterize the current climate and belarus right now in terms of free speech? has it gotten worse since that dispute to the election in august 2020? >> definitely much worse. because the political parties are banned. practically all newspapers, independent newspapers, even local newspapers, even very, very small newspapers that cover the life of some local communities, they are also banned. practically there are no ngo's now in belarus. and it's really a very visible crackdown from the size of this regime on civil society.

lukashenko will try to clear the field. you know, that it would be no, any attempt for resistance, even people -- even peaceful demonstrations. peaceful demonstrations are not allowed. so i think that the situation with human rights is getting worse and worse. we have now about 600 political officials, political dean eight -- political detainees in our country. and the arrests are rising also. so you know that they were about 40,000 people who got through prisons after these presidential elections. 40,000. if you can compare with the largest in central and eastern europe after the second world war, in poland there were about

10,000 going through prisons. and poland is four times bigger than belarus. so you can imagine the scale of the terror that belarus civil society faces now from the side of this regime. but from another point, we're pretty optimistic. because one day it will blow up, and there are no other ways, but we will definitely win. because it's impossible now to breathe, but you know the society cannot live the same way. i'm pretty confident that we are on the brink of the end of this regime. host: let's get the last word on this. do you agree with that sentiment? are you hopeful for the future? and what would you want to see more of from other nations and applying pressure on belarus? >> i am hopeful as well, but we

should not be to optimistico -- be too optimistic. it will take some time. but we have to be extremely resolved, be very clear in what we do and what we support. this is not only the case for all eu countries, all european countries, but countries all over the world. as a whole we have to be very supportive of the elected candidates. anyway, she's received all over the world, she is traveling all over. but if we give up the pressure, lukashenko will say i won, and stay in power for another 10 years, which is also likely. it is extremely important, the resolve of all countries. increase sanctions, reduce diplomatic presence, be much more forceful against activities of the secret police. but also of other belarusians

who are having links over here. for example, look at bank accounts, which belarusians have in european countries. look at their relatives who are studying in european universities, which is also happening. if they are tough against the relatives of this athlete of belarus, we have to be very forceful against the relatives of those part of the lukashenko gang, and that we can do much more strongly than we are doing right now. we have strengthened our actions, but we have to do more to show we are not giving up, and supporting the person who is democratically elected, and that we want to have a change. host: all right. we will have to leave it there. good discussion. thank you very much, gentlemen. thank you for being on "inside story." thanks for being with us. and thank you for watching. as always, you can see the

program again any time by visiting our website, and for further discussion you can go to our facebook page, facebook.com/ajinsidestory. you can also join the conversation on twitter. our handle is @ajinsidestory. bye for now. ♪ >> stories that need to be told, find a way, and demand to be heard. opening a window into another life, and challenging

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