EUobserver Investigative Reports

EUobserver is publishing a series of investigative reports to shed light on some of the lesser known or more complex areas of European Union activities, starting November 2011.

All EU ambassadors are returning to Minsk in a bid to improve deteriorating relations with Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko, in power for the past 18 years.

A former officer in the 'Diamond' - Lukashenko's elite bodyguard - who lives in exile in the EU, says he "cannot remain indifferent" to the brutality of the regime.

Belarus' future nuclear plant, situated just 50km from Vilnius, sits on a fault line which saw a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 1909.

Young people in Belarus who defy the regime are denied their education, jailed or punished by reprisals against their family. Many of them just want to leave.

Belarus' former leader - Stanislav Shushkevich - says Lukashenko is an "arse-kisser" whose power will wane if the EU imposes economic sanctions.