among them, victor, another challenger of lukashenko. and another person, a prominent government critic. from exile, siarhei tsikhanouski continues to raise her voice. she has urged the west to keep up the pressure on lukashenko by imposing sanctions and not recognizing him as president. she has called the verdict against her husband an act of revenge by the dictator. >> i will try to do something very difficult. maybe impossible. to bring close the moment when we will see each other again in a new belarus. brent: germany's foreign minister has condemned the prison sentence given to tsikhanouski. she said, i have taken note of the scandalous verdicts against siarhei tsikhanouski and others. the verdicts are a disgrace to the rule of law and to the international obligations of belarus. joining me now is our correspondent, he has reported many times from belarus about the political situation. he joins me tonight from kiev in neighboring ukraine. it is good to see you. talk to me about tsikhanouski's role in belarusian politics and his hope

of course, the immediate perpetrator is mr lukashenko and the minsk regime.s his principal, and his principal is in the kremlin. all those elements, all the pieces of the puzzle put together present not a very good picture, that there is a threat on ukraine, a military build—up around ukraine, pressure through all of the energy—related channels, in particular gas prices and the oil. and then russia is very good at propaganda, and they are increasing their propaganda these days big—time. they are trying to put enormous pressure on the european union to disintegrate, to disunite all of us. do you blame president putin personally for all of this? because you say russia, you say moscow... president putin is the leader of russia so of course he has created this system, and this is why i believe that we should wake up from this nap right now. because it's not too late to act. but things may happen in ukraine, for instance, or there could be another huge migration problem for the whole of europe. for instance, given quite a sudden withdrawal of troops of nato from a

lukashenko is still in his home court. _ remembers it. lukashenko is still in his home court. is. i think he's going to make it uncomfortable. the federation of independent— uncomfortable. the federation of independent says _ uncomfortable. the federation of independent says it's _ uncomfortable. the federation of independent says it's - uncomfortable. the federation of independent says it's not - uncomfortable. the federation of independent says it's notjust| independent says it's notjust the eu corridor, but the headquarters of nato. do either of those organisations have a clear position on russia?— those organisations have a clear position on russia? well, i think nato. .. position on russia? well, i think nato--- yes. _ position on russia? well, i think nato... yes, clearly. _ position on russia? well, i think nato. .. yes, clearly. we've - position on russia? well, i think| nato... yes, clearly. we've been hearing from them today. a spokesperson said when it comes to ukraine, there will be, he said, negotiations on the right to countries to choose their own path. that's u

he challenges lukashenko in one of lukashenko's, every five years he has a phony election, runs againstad been in prison, she's the candidate. in the course of three weeks transformed herself into this extraordinary national leader and transforms the country and clearly, just clearly wipes out lukashenko in the polls. he then had her arrested and thrown out of the country. since this happened she's built a government in exile in lithuania and trying to unseat lukashenko. extraordinary interview. >> there was an interview last week where lukashenko that made the rounds where he was confronted about all of this. you say she's a stay-at-home mom. how do you go that in a matter of weeks for having the presence and courage to step out and do what she's done? >> there's these amazing scenes where she's basically approached by all of the people who got knocked off the ballot. look, your name is on the ballot. you've got to run. and she starts to cry. she breaks down. she can't do it. then she kind of gathers herself and clearly had it inside of her, clearly, and kind of summoned the courage an

i would also emphasize that now as the lukashenko regime is clinging to power, it became clear that was -- that it was only political support and economic support and rhetoric internationally when moscow said that any resolution of the belarusian -- when they become more prone to accept any offer coming from russia, there are now talks about whether we will see military bases appearing in belarus, and that is something even lukashenko was unwilling to discuss with russia five years ago. now we have seen the establishment of the so-called training center in the western direction and there are actual talks about what kind of capabilities could be placed there and what extent you can call this an actual training center. then there are intel reports earlier about possible plans to attack, let alone this hybrid migration crisis. it was interesting to see how russia launched the nuclear capabilities to belarusian airspace and solidarity with the union state to belarus. i think it was it interesting way for moscow to be indirectly involved into the migration crisis to test the patience of nato

i would also emphasize that now as the lukashenko regime is clinging to power by any means, it became clear that they are divided to russian support. also economic support with diplomatic rhetoric when they called for some sort of rhetoric for crisis and the union state affairs. when lukashenko becomes more and more vulnerable and more prone to accept sort of any offer coming from russia, there are no talks about whether we will see actual militarization in belarus. that is something lukashenko was unwilling to discuss five years ago but now we have seen the establishment of the so-called training center in [indiscernible] in the western direction and there are actual talks about the capabilities that could be put in place there and to what extent this could be called an actual training center. then there is this intel report from earlier about possible technical plans around belarus and, let a rut -- let alone this hybrid migration crisis in the past month. it was interesting to see how russia alone could find nuclear capable bumpers in the airspace as a sign of solidarity with union

lukashenko didn't have the courage to debate this woman.ll never know the official outcome of the election because lukashenko wouldn't allow it. i was proud to host her he recall whyer in year for my senate colleagues, senator shaheen and sullivan to meet with in my office. and i am glad to see that president biden met with her as well. she is a brave woman soldiering on despite the fact that the belarusans announced just a week nag her husband has now been sentenced to 18 years in prison. tragically, lung schenck co-has continued to double down on his behavior including forcing down a commercial airline to arrest the belarusan activist. just in last month after months of closed hearings, that 18-month prison sentence for her husband. a journalist from rye free europe received an equally outrageous sentence from lukashenko. what a waste. what an outright theft of the belarusan people's future. these people must be freed and we must continue to support her effort and her husband and the thousands upon thousands who peacefully protest on her

la union europea acusa al dictador bielorruso "alexander lukashenko" de crear la crisis migratoria ys migrantes, que en su mayoria han llegado desde siria, irak y afganistan. en japon, fue rescatado un hombre de 69 aqos que luchaba por sobrevivir en medio del agitado mar. la guardia costera revelo este video del hombre aferrado a la pequeqa embarcacion que se habia volcado. el sobreviviente estaba realizando trabajos de construccion en un puerto frente a yakushima cuando ocurrio el incidente. una directora de orquesta mexicana crea un nuevo espectaculo con musica clasica y algo mas... las imagenes en breve. y algo mas... las imagenes en breve. ocean spray tiene un sabor único, y es difícil ponernos de acuerdo. a mí, cran-pineapple, me sabe tropical. ¡como unas vacaciones! pero el cran-mango, es como ir a un parque de diversiones. ♪♪ locutor: televisa presenta... [música]

lukashenko is still in his home court. j ukraine no longer is.able. can you defuse it? the federation of independent states... paris, notjust the eu quarter, but the headquarters of nato. do either of those organisations have a clear position on russia? well, i think nato do. yes, clearly. we've been hearing from them today. a nato spokesperson said when it comes to ukraine, there will be, he said, on ukraine, negotiations on the right for countries to choose their own path. that's ukraine, whether it would one day become a nato member, but that's really not actually likely for a very long time, partly because they know how difficult an issue this is and how problematic it is. one of president putin's demands seems to me, president biden is guaranteeing ukraine would join nato. it's interesting to see, why is president putin doing this? why has he put 175,000 troops on this border? creating extreme tension? deliberately ramped things up. yes. ambassadors who were there before say this wasn't an issue. he didn't think it was going to happen. the i

will lukashenko and belarus still use migrants as a weapon?me into germany, and i was in germany in the last few weeks to look at nordstream and look at these... i've been to belarus and poland and lithuania, and very powerful weapons that are being exploited. i think we got to wait and see how events go to really see where the new german chancellor stands on these things. it's a very fraught time to come to power. it's certainly going to test him more than anything. michael, why is the us opposed to nordstream 2 in particular? but not prepared to impose sanctions? biden is taking a step—by—step i approach here, and i think what's l interesting is this whole story. began to bubble up about a week ago, in a classic way. unattributed briefing. to the washington post, saying russia has this massive i build—up going on with the border with ukraine. we had a very rapid couple of days of diplomacy, - and i think that was kind of forcing the issue into the public. - the issue into the public domain. i think that's sort. of whatjoe biden is, what his

>> the fact he's meeting with lukashenko, after lukashenko has had such troubles with the european nations across the border there into poland recently, that created a large amount of tension. but the sort of broader meeting that putin is having is independent states, which is really, in essence, the former republics of the soviet union in this commonwealth with russia, where it's a forum for discussion on sort of common foreign policy, policing, economics, these sorts of things. but of course absent from that table and very clearly absent is ukraine. that was one of those states. so i think when you have this meeting and ukraine is such a topic at the moment, its absence from the commonwealth of independent states is a very heavy message for president putin himself. for belarus, the conversations with president lukashenko, president putin is his biggest ally and biggest supporter. what they're planning isn't clear. >> nic robertson, thank you. >>> we're learning more about the time lines from the january 6th committee investigating the capitol insurrection. when we might see a final repor

i was returning from belarus, where i�*d confronted alexander lukashenko on the mass repression andlexander lukashenko on the mass repression and torture of peaceful protesters. his loyal supporters rounded on me in a coordinated attack. vladimir putin is presenting this as just another working visit. .. i�*ve reported from russia for two decades, the whole span of vladimir putin�*s presidency. there have been highs, like the world cup. but i�*ve also charted the slow erosion of freedoms here — the crackdown on dissent. a year ago, the government put me on short—term visas. then i became the news as state television announced i had to leave. after tense negotiations, i had been allowed to enter russia, but only to pack. i was then told my visa wouldn�*t be renewed. supposedly what happened to a russian reporter in london — though that was two years ago. it�*s happening as the pressure on russian journalists who don�*t toe the kremlin line is intensifying. dozhd tv has just been added to a growing blacklist of media labelled "foreign agents" for getting funds from abroad. the status

he helped rally major protests against president alexander lukashenko but was arrested and unable to run against him in the 2020 election. his wife svetlana tikhanovsky took on the authoritarian leader instead, becoming the face of the opposition but was forced into exile in lithuania following the widely contested election, in which both she and lukashenko claimed victory. she spoke following the verdict against her husband. >> i will continue to defend thperson i love, who has become a leader of millions. i will try to do something very difficult, perhaps possible, to bring closure to moments when we will see him in the new belarus. amy: in haiti, at least 62 peoe were killed and scores injured after a fuel truck exploded late monday in the city of cap-haitien. dozens of homes were also damaged and city officials said my would need to be demolished. the fuel tanker reportedly flipped over in the street and bystders gathed to collect leaking gas when the blast occurred. haitians have been facing a severe fuel shortage, leading to power outages and protests. in mexico, relatives of p

those are both things we are watching and it was particularly concerning to see president lukashenko make a change in his own posture with regard to crimea. he had long declined to recognize russia's claim on crimea but changed tack a week ago which is very concerning. >> i wanted to raise an issue you brought up in your opening remarks with respect to the effort to confirm our ambassadors and state department officials and the effect currently of hamstringing our foreign policy efforts around the world. i know this committee has worked very hard in a bipartisan way to try and move those appointments but they are being held up on the floor by a small group of republican colleagues who have other issues who don't want to move forward. and i hope that you will share with everybody on this committee and those holding up those appointments what that means to our diplomacy and our foreign policy when we can't get our people in place to protect american interests. >> thank you for that, senator. thank you for how stalwart you've been on this subject. as i said in my opening, we are on the

be the biggest one-day crackdown in a month in response to protest against election fraud should lukashenkoted many were arrested and tortured. many have fled belarus or living in fear. this is a country controlled by one man and many say given the crackdown after the elections and the recent migrant crisis, it is clear he will do anything to stay in power. someone who has not been silenced is maria. at the forefront of election protest, she has been jailed for 11 years framing to overthrow the state. >> something my generation did not understand. now i know what my daughters are doing. what young people are doing is what we should have done. >> from prison, his daughter communicates through postcards. coco maria knows in our family we love the beatles. she sent me regards from harrison, mccartney. >> her high spirit despite her prison sentence has inspired many in belarus. she famously ripped up her passport to avoid deportation. >> i wish that europe and the rest of the world will forgive all -- will give all political prisoners high priority. i am sure people who are her friends, the who

of saudi journalist and critic jamal kashoggi; and, most recently, belarus president alexander lukashenkong a bomb threat to force down a ryanair flight carrying an opposition journalist. >> no one is safe anymore from the long arm of the authoritarian state. so, even american citizens, if we don't stand up to transnational repression, i think that we are opening the door to authoritarian countries going after everyone living in a democracy. so, i don't think this is just a matter of us and them; it's a matter of all of us. >> reporter: on september 20 of this year, paul rusesabagina was found guilty. >> he founded a terrorist group >> ( translated ): he founded a terrorist group that attacked rwanda. he financially contributed to the terrorist activities. he approved monthly payments for these activities. he invented a code to hide these activities. >> reporter: human rights observers say the trial was flawed and unfair, with numerous violations of due process. sarah ckson is deputy regional director for east africa with amnesty international. >> if the rwandan authorities had wanted to

leads the opposition from exile, called the trial a sham and the judgement revenge by president lukashenkody that the sentence would be very tough and i am not going to sit now and i am not going to sit now and count at what age as my husband to be released, of course not. i'm just asking one question to myself" what else are can do, what else can a democratic society do to release all the political prisoners who are behind bars at the moment?" a british woman has been found guilty of murdering her girlfriend's 16—month—old child. star hobson endured months of assaults and psychological harm at the hands of 28—year—old savannah brockhill. a jury at bradford crown court cleared the little girl's mother, frankie smith, of murder and manslaughter, but convicted her of causing or allowing her daughter's death. diplomats from britain, france, and germany have warned that the 2015 iran nuclear deal is at risk of becoming "an empty shell", given the pace at which the country is accelerating its nuclear programme. they accuse tehran of taking new positions inconsistent with the agreement and wasti

leads the opposition from exile, called the trial a sham, and thejudgement, revenge by president lukashenkod the sentence will be very child. and i'm not going to sit now and count what age is my husband to be released, of course not. i'm just asking one question to myself, what else i can do, what else can do to to society to release not only him but all the political prisoners who are behind bars at the moment. diplomats from france and germany have warned that the iran deal is at risk of becoming an empty shell given the pace at which the country is accelerating its nuclear program. they accrue accused iran of taking positions inconsistent with the agreement and wasting precious time at the talks in bnl. —— bnl. the french authorities have formally identified 26 people who died when their boat sank in the sea between england and mainland europe last month, in what is the crossings worst—recorded migrant tragedy. more people may still be unaccounted for. among those confirmed dead were two friends from the same town in iraqi kurdistan. the bbc�*s hanan razak spoke to their families before

leads the opposition from exile, called the trial a sham, and thejudgement, revenge by president lukashenkogoing to sit now and count what age is my husband to be released, of course not. i'm just asking one question to myself, what else i can do, what else can do society to release not only him but all the political prisoners who are behind bars at the moment. a british woman has been found guilty of murdering her girlfriends child. and during months of assault and psychological harm at the hands of brockville. a jury cleared the little girls mother of murder and manslaughter but convicted her causing or allowing her daughter's death. diplomats from britain, france and germany have warned that the iran deal is at risk of becoming an empty shell given the pace at which the country is accelerating its nuclear program. they accused iran of taking positions inconsistent with the agreement and wasting precious time at the talks in bnl. the french authorities have formally identified 26 people who died when their boat sank in the sea between england and mainland europe last month, in what is the

next year, according to president vladimir putin, who has met with belarus' president alexander lukashenkoe. russia has demanded that nato do not admit ukraine, which borders both russia and belarus. the us says russia may be preparing an invasion of ukraine, and has announced it will help to strengthen its borders. moscow denies this. british households will be worse off next year because of higher energy bills, stagnant wages and tax increases, according to a think tank. the resolution foundation, which focuses on people on lower incomes, claims millions of families are facing a �*cost of living catastrophe'. the government says it has put £4.2 billion in place to support families. our economics correspondent andy verity has more. at the moment the dominant economic factor�*s omicron, of course, and that may be causing right now a bit of an economic contraction. but it's thought that that will be relatively short lived and what the resolution foundation is saying, they're a think tank that concentrates on living standards, is that in april, we are going to have a really nasty squeeze sud

the other thing that is going on is you have lukashenko in belarus who has threatened to stop suppliesming through his country from russia if the eu does not bend to his will on some political issues. natural gas is not normally a geopolitical commodity like oil, but it is definitely in the headlines right now. manus: and when we look at the european gas price, which is where i started, is there a contagion effect to the rest of the world? joe biden has been apoplectic about gas prices at the pump, to the consumer. but does europe contage at a global level or is it in isolation? dan: we're definitely seeing contagion into asia. the price of lng is jumping up to $40, where it had traded below $10 for the longest time. that is because europe is so high, pulling lng tankers away from asia. if you are a chinese or japanese buyer, you have to jack up your price to draw them back. the u.s. gulf coast, it has never been a better time to be in natural gas exporter. these lng companies down there, they are buying u.s. gas unless than four dollars per btu, putting it on a ship, and selling it fo

but also i think president lukashenko's days are numbered. the kremlin is getting weary of what he does and he has outlived his usefulness soon. i can imagine a scenario where belarus becomes annexed or at least a new government is installed that is even more friendly to the kremlin. i think these are connected. and i did allude earlier to the fact i think beijing is watching all of this and they are watching, number one, our resolve. our capability, they are watching the challenges associated with if you don't have energy independence, which the gentleman correctly referred to, but i think is also looking to see how well the united states and our allies are able to stick together. i keep going back to this point because there is no way we can successfully deter russia, contain china by ourselves. our economies are too interconnected. the diplomatic requirements or the diplomatic strength of comes from all of us working together and competing in all the different domains. so this is a global situation and i think the administration and congre

lukashenko might join and that remind me of soviet interventions in hungary in '56, czechoslovakia inlesser allies allegedly joined declaratively the soviet actions. i don't think it leads to an interstate war with nato allies. most certainly the united states is not going to go to war with russia over ukraine. but i do think it means a qualitatively different moment in terms of european security, and i hope short of military action, president biden and all those people he was on the phone with today understand that this would be qualitatively different and, therefore, act qualitatively different in response, including massive sanctions and massive military assistance to the ukrainians. we want to deter putin. those are two things we should be doing more of. >> michael mcfaul, u.s. ambassador to russia under president obama, thank you so much for your time tonight, mr. ambassador. really nice to see you here. >> great to be here. >> i'll be right back. stay with us. >>> today the justice department has filed suit against the state of texas for violating section 2 of the voting rights

year it is going the add to concerns that russia may invade ukraine after the meeting, putin and lukashenko are both longtime fans of the sport of hockey. they played for the same team together and won 18-7. putin scored seven of the 18 goals. >>> north carolina state's football team is bringing a bowl trophy home without playing at all. hours before kickoff the holiday bowl was canceled due to covid problems for the other team. ucla that's one way to win. and the new york times scare tested a confetti drop planned for friday night new york is going ahead with its famous party but limiting the number of people who can attend. courtney, i think you also have to wear a mask, which of course is the safest thing to do, but will certainly be a different experience i went once in college, actually, and froze my tail off. but i had a good time. >> i bet, i bet. it is maybe something i would do once but not this year. >> exactly. >> i was wondering if they were still going to hold it. >>> time for power movers. we start with victoria's secret. the company reaffirming its guidance for the fourth qua

alexander lukashenko agreed to hold joint military exercises in belarus. to the north russian troops are are already on the ukraine border. they fear moscow is preparing to invade ukraine again and today's phone call is presumably to dissuade putin from taking action. cnn's nic robertson joins us from moscow. what is the intel you are hearing, nic? >> reporter: the kremlin isn't laying out a reason why putin asked for the phone call. what we heard from the white house is they remain concerned about russia's continued troop buildup on the border of ukraine. and the message is that if russia really wants to have a constructive and productive dialogue in these talks that are coming up on january the 10th, then this needs to happen in an atmosphere of de-escalation, and the united states says it's not seeing any de-escalation at the moment in terms of the russian troop buildup. and in the past few days, the united states flew a spy plane over ukraine with the ability to look at what russian troops were doing, how they were deployed. russia, of course, said it

we've seen the increasing dependence that belarusian president lukashenko has on putin, so putin could demand that he return the favor. >> it's only been a few months since the chaotic u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. if the u.s. ends up sending troops to ukraine in any way, as advisers, trainers or whatever, how concerned are you that we could be watching a repeat of afghanistan in our near future? >> jake, that's four levels of hypothetical that i'm not going to go into, but what i will say is that the u.s. has provided some $450 million this year alone in security support for ukraine. and they are going to need that if they are confronting russian forces, and they are a very strong security partner of ours because our commitment to their sovereignty and territorial integrity and independence is unwavering. >> under secretary victoria newland, thank you. >>> let's discuss with my team here. julie, let me start with you. national security adviser jake sullivan told reporters today the u.s. does not believe that putin's mind has been made up about invading ukraine. you've covered puti

to run their countries, because the migrants are simply just a tool that belarus, specifically lukashenko has chosen to use to weaken these countries. what he is doing is suggesting the citizens of these countries, and by extension other eu states, that their governments are not capable of fulfilling the requirements of a government, including keeping the borders safe. what does that mean? i remember -- i don't know if anybody else on this call remembers -- on this event remembers the 2014 incident off the coast of stockholm. there was a suspected submarine intrusion and the swedish navy was sent to chase them out. as most of us are not experts in submarine hunts, it is an area where you can easily cede this -- cede disinformation which is exactly what russian media outlets and officials did, by suggesting it was not a submarine at all or that it was a nato submarine, or the swedish navy had confused a sea animal with the intrusion of a submarine. all of this because we are not submarine experts because we are ordinary citizens was more successful than you might think it would be because

is concerned, because president lukashenko of belarus just reversed his decision last week.imea. and now he has reversed that decision, and he is siding with putin, and saying that they do have rights to crimea, so that is an incredibly important area to watch. >> okay, kylie atwood, thank you! >>> so today, germany swore in a new chancellor, marking the end of angela merkle's 16 years at the helm of europe's largest economy. the new chancellor, olaf schulze, was vice chancellor and finance minister in merkle's government. >>> after announcing that they had arrested one of the men who had murdered journalist jamal khashoggi, france now says it was the wrong man. saudi embassies alerted the french officials that the man arrested had nothing to do with the question in case, that case being the 2018 murder of the journalist who was critical of saudi arabia's policies by men with closet ties to the saudi government. >>> the cdc has launched a massive contact tracing effort for thousands of people who recently attended anorexia may convention in new york. they're trying to determ

i put the question actually about a month ago to lukashenko, the leader of belarus himself and he saidwe'd never be used in that way. ukrainian intelligence sources tell me here in kiev that there are joint patrols, air patrols being held now from november the 25th between the russian air force and belarusian air force and a lot of the troops that could be used to invade ukraine are very close to the belarusian border. it's opened that concern up. there is an invasion, although russia says there isn't going to be one, they could use belarusian territory to come in through the north. >> matthew, how are ukrainian leaders reacting to the u.s.' involvement? >> well, i mean, they haven't formally, properly reacted yet in the sense it's going to be a conversation on the telephone tomorrow here between president biden and president vladimir zelensky, the ukrainian leader. he has made remarks saying he thought it was pos tough this call took place because it meant that president biden was now personally involved in resolving the conflict in eastern ukraine. he also thought it was a victory fo

the eastern border of poland where you know the migratory crisis is being created or helped by lukashenko. we also see what's happening on the border of russia and ukraine and of course it gives us a lot of grounds to be worried. for us on on the level of the cities you know the biggest threats are of course the threats of a hybrid nature because you know the the the war is now waged differently. so first of all there is a question of our resilience when it comes to energy and that's why you know i in my introductory statements i i was so strong about nordstrom. that's why we do so much to fight climate change uh not only because we have to save the planet but also because we uh cannot allow uh russians and others to use energy as leverage. that's why we invest as much as we can in renewables that's why we green our cities that's why we increase the resilience but of course there's also a problem of of cybersecurity. and you know we the mayors we cannot do a lot because this is this is a responsibility of the government. what we try to do we try to talk to the kids we try to introduce pro

leads the opposition from exile, called the trial a sham, and thejudgement, revenge by president lukashenkos underground and people arejoining into a working movement and our planned victory. people have created a lot of initiatives that aim to show the world what is going on in our wonderful country. how people are suffering because one person absorbed the country with the help of violence and to work every day to win small victories every day. day to win small victories every da . ,, ., day to win small victories every da _ ,, ., . ., ~ day to win small victories every da . ,, ., _, . , day. still to come... we will be live in kentucky _ day. still to come... we will be live in kentucky as _ day. still to come... we will be live in kentucky as residents i day. still to come... we will be i live in kentucky as residents pick up live in kentucky as residents pick up the pieces following that series of devastating tornadoes at the weekend. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has told people in scotland to limit their socialising before and after christmas to help combat the omicron cor

at the centre of that row is alexander lukashenko — he's been the belarussian president since 199a.fter the result. but it wasnt a new phenomenon. the sentence was handed down in closed court. it's the latest move against those who disputed the re—election the sentence was handed down in closed court. this footage was broadcast by belarusian state media, showing mr tikhan—ovsky entering court. he's a blogger and a youtuber who was critical of the government one the 6th of may 2020, a colleague on his channel posted this video saying mr tikhan—ovsky had been detained by police in the city of mogil—yoff. a day later — we found out why. translation: i am sergei tikhanovsky, belarus - businessman and blogger and would like to announce that i will take part in the presidential campaign as a candidate. he'd been arrested after he announced he was running for president. so that meant he wasn't able to register in person as a presidential candidate. instead, his wife sviatlana tsikhanouskaya registered in his place. she's now one of the leading opposition figures. he was later released and

but also i think president lukashenko's days are numbered.he kremlin is getting weary of what he does and he has outlived his usefulness soon. i can imagine a scenario where belarus becomes annexed or at least a new government is installed that is even more friendly to the kremlin. i think these are connected. and i did allude earlier to the fact i think beijing is watching all of this and they are watching, number one, our resolve. our capability, they are watching the challenges associated with if you don't have energy independence, which the gentleman correctly referred to, but i think is also looking to see how well the united states and our allies are able to stick together. i keep going back to this point because there is no way we can successfully deter russia, contain china by ourselves. our economies are too interconnected. the diplomatic requirements or the diplomatic strength of comes from all of us working together and competing in all the different domains. so this is a global situation and i think the administration and congress