Belarus Weekly: Lukashenko visits Iran, Russian aircraft explosion spurs mass arrests across Belarus

Belarus’ dictator Alexander Lukashenko visits fellow Russian ally Iran to discuss the countries’ bilateral relations and look into ways to potentially bypass growing international sanctions.

In Belarus, Lukashenko signed a law introducing the death penalty as punishment for civil servants and military personnel convicted of high treason.

Belarusian authorities conducted mass arrests nationwide in the aftermath of the Machulishchy military airfield explosion in late February.

Meanwhile, more politically-motivated trials begin in Belarus.

The head of Vitsebsk Oblast’s Executive Committee signs an economic cooperation agreement with Russian proxies in occupied Crimea. Despite Minsk not officially recognizing Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea,

Lukashenko has falsely claimed that the peninsula is Russian on numerous occasions.

Lithuanian intelligence: Belarus concealed defects in the nuclear plant’s reactors

On March 9, the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense released the eighth National Security Threat Assessment report stating that Belarus and Russian corporation Rosatom, responsible for constructing Belarus’ first nuclear power plant in Astraviets, concealed defects in the plant’s reactors.

According to Lithuanian intelligence, in May 2022, cracks in the plant’s first reactor were spotted. The information was concealed, while required maintenance wasn’t performed.

The Belarusian Energy Ministry denied the allegations.

The Belarusian nuclear power plant in Astraviets has been an ambitious project aimed at producing electricity for Belarus and neighboring Baltic states.

Since April 2022, when the first power unit was connected to the grid, the plant has been turned off and on repair for 45% of the time.