Belarus diverted and brought down a commercial aircraft bound from Greece to Lithuania after a bomb threat against the plane was received and a prominent independent journalist travelling on board was taken into custody.

Russia’s troop build-up on Ukraine’s border and the threat of a broad full-scale incursion sent alarmed chancelleries scurrying to make calls for Moscow to step back from the brink.

The best-known independent media outlet in Belarus was shut down by authorities in a move denounced by the ex-Soviet state’s weakened opposition and Western countries as a further attempt by President Alexander Lukashenko to snuff out all objective news coverage.