Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into six regions. Minsk is the capital and largest city; it is administered separately as a city with special status.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is an American government-funded media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL operates 21 local bureaus with over 500 core staff, 1,300 freelancers, and 680 employees at its corporate offices in Washington, D.C. Nicola Careem serves as the editor-in-chief.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide, by promoting political and economic institutions, such as political groups, business groups, trade unions, and free markets.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Founded in 1910 by Andrew Carnegie, the organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between countries, reducing global conflict, and promoting active international engagement between the United States and countries around the world. It engages leaders from multiple sectors and across the political spectrum.
Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. Applebaum also holds Polish citizenship.
Law and Justice is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Reformists Group. Its chairman had been Jarosław Kaczyński since 18 January 2003.
The League of Polish Families is a social conservative political party in Poland, with many far-right elements in the past. The party's original ideology was that of the National Democracy movement which was headed by Roman Dmowski, however, in 2006 its leader Roman Giertych distanced himself from that heritage.
Viktor Mihály Orbán is a Hungarian lawyer and politician who has been Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has also led the Fidesz political party since 2003, and previously from 1993 to 2000. He was re-elected as prime minister in 2014, 2018, and 2022. On 29 November 2020, he became the country's longest-serving prime minister.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is a non-profit American non-governmental organization whose stated mission is to "support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability". It is funded primarily by the United States and other Western governments, by major corporations and by nonprofits like the Open Society Foundations.
Alexander Sebastian Léonce von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, commonly known as Alexander Graf Lambsdorff is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, who has been serving as the German ambassador to Russia since 2023.
Radosław Tomasz Sikorski, also known as Radek Sikorski, is a Polish politician, journalist and statesman who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland in Donald Tusk's cabinet since 2023, previously holding the office between 2007 and 2014. He was a Member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2023. Earlier he was Marshal of the Sejm from 2014 to 2015. He previously served as Deputy Minister of National Defence (1992) in Jan Olszewski's cabinet, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1998–2001) in Jerzy Buzek's cabinet and Minister of National Defence (2005–2007) in the cabinets of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczyński.
The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy think tank that seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between North America and the European Union.
Guided democracy, also called directed democracy and managed democracy, is a formally democratic government that functions as a de facto authoritarian government or, in some cases, as an autocratic government. Such hybrid regimes are legitimized by elections, but do not change the state's policies, motives, and goals.
Bogdan Brunon Wenta is a Polish politician and handball coach and former Polish and German handball player. He has been a member of the Poland men's national handball team in 1981–1994 and Germany men's national handball team in 1997–2000, a participant of the Olympic Games Sydney 2000, five-time Polish Champion, and former head coach of Poland. He has been one of the best handball player in the history of Polish handball. Between 2014 and 2018 he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Polish Civic Platform. In 2018, he was elected as Mayor of Kielce, having run from his own committee with the endorsement of the Civic Platform.
Belsat is a Polish free-to-air terrestrial and satellite television channel aimed at Belarus. The channel is a subsidiary of TVP S.A. From the outset, it has been co-funded by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international donors.
Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (GD), also colloquially known as the Kotsebi, is a populist political party in Georgia. It is currently the ruling party in Georgia. Irakli Garibashvili serves as the party chairman, while the former chairman Irakli Kobakhidze has served as the prime minister since February 2024. Bidzina Ivanishvili, widely considered the de facto leading person of the party, serves as its honorary chairman.
Knut Fleckenstein is a German politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, part of the Party of European Socialists.
Petras Auštrevičius is a Lithuanian liberal politician, diplomat, civil society activist, former member of Seimas, and since 2014, a member of the European Parliament.
The Russian undesirable organizations law is a law that was signed by President Vladimir Putin on 23 May 2015 as a follow-up to the 2012 Russian foreign agent law and Dima Yakovlev Law. Under the law, Russian prosecutors are able to target foreign groups which they deem to present "a threat to the foundation of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, the defense capability of the country or the security of the state."
Meydan TV is a Berlin-based Azerbaijani non-profit media organization. Founded by dissident blogger and former political prisoner Emin Milli in 2013, Meydan TV publishes news in Azerbaijani, English, and Russian. In May 2013, Meydan TV announced plans for broadcasting simultaneously through the Turkish Türksat communications. The word "meydan" means town square in Azerbaijani.
