Russia has loaned embattled Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko $1.5 billion (€1.3bn), even as he warned protesters not to cross his "red lines".
"We agreed that during this complicated period Moscow would grant Minsk a state loan," Russian president Vladimir Putin told Lukashenko at a press conference in Sochi, on Russia's Black Sea coast, on Monday (14 September).
He also pledged Belarus would be the "first country" to receive Russia's new coronavirus vaccine, when it was ...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.