Belarus, in particular Alexander Lukashenko, have had a hard time recently.
Guardian: West tightens Belarus sanctions to make Lukashenko regime ‘run dry’.
https://archive.fo/EZHDH#selection-849.0-856.0
FT: Belarus bonds tumble as investors brace for ‘Venezuela-style’ sanctions
https://www.ft.com/content/8a1095bc-83b5-453d-91c8-60236641f86d
Sky: UK joins US, EU and Canada in imposing sanctions on Belarus following forced landing of Ryanair flight.
https://archive.fo/Kc0Ha#selection-395.0-395.102
RFE/RL: Seven Non-EU Countries Align Themselves With Belarus Flight Sanctions
https://archive.fo/4kiYH#selection-1077.1-1077.70
This would appear to be why: (quote from the article, sauce below)
“I once asked the question: is this pandemic, this coronavirus, a man-made phenomenon? I don’t know the answer yet, but I have my suspicions. Are politicians and others using this situation for their own purposes? You and I both know the answer to that question. You already see how it is used today…Doesn’t it seem to you that the powerful forces of the world would like to remake the world, without a ‘war’ (Emmanuel Macron has already called it a war), through this so-called ‘corona-psychosis’, or ‘info-demic’? Many people are asking: ‘what will happen after the pandemic?’” Lukashenko said, speaking to Mir TV in an interview airing Friday.
Sauce:
Sputnik: https://archive.fo/dx0Od
Another anti-DS leader it seems!
I believe he said some time last year that he was offered 'stimulus' money to lock the country down for covid. He said no thanks.
Nice to have crypto exchanges in Belarus.