The U.S., the U.K. and Canada all passed new restrictions on Belarus.<\/b>
\nPresident Joe Biden unveiled the strongest sanctions to date on Belarus to mark the first anniversary of the controversial re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, which U.S. officials said was fraudulent. Lukashenko, who has been dubbed by the media as \u201cEurope\u2019s Last Dictator\u201d and who is a noted ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has kept a tight grip on the country\u2019s presidency since the office was created in 1994 after the fall of the Soviet Union. His most recent election in 2020, widely thought by the opposition and countries in the West to have been rigged in Lukashenko\u2019s favor, spurred the largest protests against the government in the country\u2019s history. International scrutiny of Lukashenko and Belarus intensified in May, when outspoken Belarusian journalist and dissident Roman Protasevich was seized by authorities in Minsk after his flight was forced to land by a military fighter jet. Protasevich had been accused of terrorism and riot provocation after covering the nationwide protests against Lukashenko\u2019s election, and had lived in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, since 2019. Belarusian officials said the commercial RyanAir flight running from Athens to Vilnius had been the target of a bomb threat, though evidence for the claim never materialized. The incident was slammed by world leaders as \u201can unprecedented act of state terrorism,\u201d and Biden called Belarus\u2019 action \u201c shameful assaults on both political dissent and the freedom of the press.\u201d Protasevich remains in custody. Belarusian authorities said in June Protasevich was still in custody in Belarus under house arrest. Belarusian Sprinter Tsimanouskaya Finally Lands In Poland After Asylum Plea At Olympics ( Forbes) Biden Slams Belarus For Detaining Journalist Seized From Flight ( Forbes) Belarus Protests In Largest Numbers Yet: There Is No More Fear ( Forbes)<\/p>\n