Lukashenko made his allegations amid rising tensions over the mass concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, with Western countries urging Moscow to pull its forces back.

Azerbaijan and Belarus agreed to boost economic cooperation between the two former Soviet countries after President Alexander Lukashenko's official visit to Baku.

The price of oil could plunge to as little as $10 a barrel by 2050 if the world succeeds in electrifying the energy market and meeting the Paris Agreement goals, analysis by consultancy Wood Mackenzie shows.

Last year’s protests showed that Lukashenko’s support after more than 25 years in power had dwindled. But he commands the loyalty of the security forces and enjoys the backing of the Kremlin.

The pro-European opposition in Belarus had been marginalised and kept well out of political activity long before the 2020 election. The mass protests became for Lukashenko a testing ground of how effective the security apparatus was.

The project was launched in the aftermath of last year’s unprecedented mass protests which clearly jolted Lukashenko after his disputed re-election to a sixth term and the widespread, and often brutal, use of security forces and the courts to crush dissent.