“Attack close to Lukashenko seat,” headlines Rzeczpospolita the day after an explosion tore through the Oktyabrskaya metro station in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, just a hundred metres from president Alexander Lukashenko’s main office. Eleven people died and at least 128 were injured in the blast that occurred during evening rush hour. Clearly shaken, Lukashenko said that a “challenge has been thrown at us and we need an adequate answer...They won’t let us live in peace and I want to know who they are,” hinting that the deadly blast “was a gift from abroad”. “[Terrorist] attacks are very rare in Belarus,” notes the Warsaw daily, recalling an explosion in Witebsk in 2006, when 50 people were injured. A young opposition member was detained in connection with that incident triggering speculation that some sort of “Belarusian national liberation army” might have been involved. Alexander Klaskousky, a political scientist quoted by Rzeczpospolita, rules out such a possibility. “Suggestions that radical oppositionists are behind yesterday’s blast is groundless and could be used by authorities as an excuse to further ‘tighten the screw’ against the opposition”.
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This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.