Belarus Bans Foreign Journalists as Putin Backs Contested Vote
Anti-government demonstrators protest at a rally in Independence Square in central Minsk on Aug. 26.
Photographer: Misha Friedman/Getty Images
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President Alexander Lukashenko banned foreign journalists from covering the street protests in Belarus as he ratchets up the crackdown following his contested landslide victory in the Aug. 9 elections.
Belarus’s Foreign Ministry withdrew the accreditation of more than a dozen reporters working for foreign media outlets, including AFP, BBC, Reuters, Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, the BBC and other media reported Saturday.