💸 A Belarusian oligarch profits from a dissident passport project. @belarusfiles.bsky.social' “Passportgate” follows the money from Lukashenko’s circle to a Lithuanian firm hired to help exiled Belarusians, revealing some connection: investigatebel.org/en/investiga... #IJ4EU

1/3 Lukashenko’s proxies funneled $35 million in 2024 from the state owned Grodno Azot by inserting shell companies along the supply chain of the SOE’s #sanctions evading exports to the EU, BIC’s investigation reveals.

🏚️ Hopeless citizens living in chaos, betrayed by their immoral governments: Belarusian #propaganda has intensified its #disinformation attacks on #EU countries, with narratives shifting towards social & economic policies. 👉 Read the new investigation by @belarusfiles.bsky.social: loom.ly/JWSsF58

"Their equipment is top-notch!" - authors of state-affiliated Telegram channel ZhS Premium quipped about #Lithuanian farmers. The sight of old tractors at a Vilnius protest set off some controversy. We've found that organizers deliberately brought vintage vehicles. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

Belarusian average salaries have reached the level of #Portugal, said Alexander Kalinin, head of the Belarusian Entrepreneurs’ Union. Our fact-checking team set out to verify whether that’s true (spoiler - no). investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

A Belarusian state fertilizer company under EU sanctions has found a way around the export ban by leasing its production lines to intermediary firms that pose as manufacturers, according to the Belarusian Investigative Center @belarusfiles.bsky.social: www.occrp.org/en/news/bela...

1/4 After Lithuania and Poland cracked down on evasion schemes by #Belarus monopolist producer of nitrogen fertilisers, the routes switched to Latvia, a new investigation by BIC, ‪LSM and Rabochy Rukh reveals.

‪1/4 Almost a thousand of wounded Russian soldiers were treated in Belarusian hospitals during the early months of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, revealed BIC together with Ukrainian and Russian services of @rferl.org.web.brid.gy through a leaked Russian Ministry of Defense database.

NEW: The Telegram messaging app has a reputation for security — but Important Stories found that its technical infrastructure is run by a man whose companies closely collaborate with Russian intelligence services. Meet Vladimir Vedeneev 👇

Fact Check: Video Game Footage Does NOT Show Actual Destruction of Russian Strategic Bombers #CheckTok #FactCheck #RussianStrategicBombers #TUBombers #UkrainianFPVDrone #ARMA3 leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2...

Judging by the rankings, #Belarus is more appealing to tourists than #Poland, #Lithuania or #Latvia, boasted an anchor of the Minsk-News agency Viktoria Kirichenko. We decided to find out where Belarus really stands. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

Belarusian political analyst Pyotr Petrovsky claimed that Poland’s economy declined over the past five years and that average Polish wages aren’t much higher than in #Belarus. We have found that he used the wrong years and the wrong figures. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

Have you ever seen a brand-new, authentic Balenciaga jacket for $4? Or a Dolce & Gabbana quilted vest priced at $6.50? These are the declared prices for luxury garments shipped by a Belarusian company from the EU to Russia to circumvent sanctions, @belarusfiles.bsky.social reports.

1/3 A #Belarusian luxury pipeline funnelling high-end clothing into Russia at artificially low prices, bypassing #EU and US restrictions and slashing taxes, has been uncovered by the Belarusian Investigative Center and partners.

A Finnish businessman wanted in connection with one of the largest corruption scandals in Finland’s history has been quietly evading justice in Belarus for the past five years, according to @belarusfiles.bsky.social.

#Europe has become a symbol of despair and bankruptcy, said state TV channel #Belarus 1 anchor Sergei Gusachenko, citing footage of closed Lithuanian factories as evidence. We found some of them are still very much alive. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

In 2024, Slovak authorities lifted a ban on May 9 celebrations, claimed Belarus' House of Representatives member Vadim Gigin, describing how “the enemy failed to erase the memory.” We have investigated whether such a ban ever existed. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

Finland issued an international arrest warrant through Interpol for Arto Kalevi Autio, who fled fraud charges connected to a major embezzlement scandal. But Autio could remain a free man if he is not arrested by the end of the year, @belarusfiles.bsky.social revealed www.occrp.org/en/news/char...

A mastermind behind multi-million-euro fraud schemes, once siphoning money from across the Baltic states and #Finland, Arto Kalevi Autio resides freely in Minsk despite both Europol and #Interpol issuing arrest warrants for him, BIC together with partners found. investigatebel.org/en/investiga...

The state has given young Belarusian professionals the gift of guaranteed employment after university, while in #Europe 75% of graduates are unemployed, said political analyst and host Vadim Yelfimov. We checked just how far off his numbers were. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

Nearly 40% of surveyed Poles said their financial situation had worsened compared to 2024, and 27% said it had significantly declined, the CTV News anchor reported, citing the results of a survey conducted in #Poland. Our team found her claim to be misleading. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion of #Ukraine, Russian army set up a filtration camp in #Belarus, BIC has discovered. Here is a short video revealing main details of the investigation and you can check the full version via the link: investigatebel.org/en/investiga...

#Belarus offers job opportunities to young professionals who earned their degrees abroad, education minister Andrei Ivanets claimed. In fact Belarus has recently introduced a process that could make it harder to recognize foreign degrees. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

#WPFD2025: Join us tomorrow for this event on supporting journalism under severe political pressure. We’ll discuss the situation of Russian & Belarusian journalists in exile. Co-org: @oscemediafreedom.bsky.social 📆 6 May, 4:00 pm 🌎 Geopolis Photojournalism Centre, #Brussels Meet the speakers👇

#Russia: Journalist Ekaterina Barabash recounted her escape from Russia, where she faced a ten-year prison sentence, at RSF headquarters in Paris today. The journalist is now safe in France thanks to an exfiltration operation coordinated by RSF.

A claim that two Russian spies were found with US defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s private number when they were arrested cites Der Spiegel as its source. But the German outlet told Full Fact that it hasn't published such a story.

#Belarus will be one of the first in the world to start using #5G technology nationwide, stated Andrey Mukovozchik, a commentator for "SB. Belarus Today" state TV show. We found out that Belarus is actually several years behind. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

Youtube Channel "Minsk Pravda": Belarus holds the top spot in the terrorist safety rankings. We checked what the actual ranking is. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

What we learned from #Russian pranksters’ recording and who is manipulatively spreading the statements of #Nanuashvili and #Zourabichvili? - Read here 👇

#WebQoof | A fake letter is being circulated to falsely claim that mass resignations took place in Pakistan's army following tensions with India after the Pahal gam attack. Read here. www.thequint.com/news/webqoof...

Poland did not invite #Israel, #Belarus, and #Russia to the Auschwitz liberation anniversary? Fact-checking the statement of the dean of the journalism faculty at Belarusian State University. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

A multinational high tech corporation Izovac with Belarusian roots - former contractor of #Apple - supplied $200 million worth of equipment from the US and Germany to the Russian military through a chain of proxies, our new investigation revealed. investigatebel.org/en/investiga...

Pope Francis Has Died Aged 88 -- What We Know So Far

The effort to all but eliminate the USAGM’s worldwide broadcasting and publishing presence comes just weeks after the Trump administration launched a broad campaign to gut the #USAID. GIJN dives deeper into what's lost if @VOANews disappears: https://twp.ai/9PRmb0

What do #Wikipedia, #LLms, & #X have in common? They’ve all been quietly infiltrated by the Pravda network—a sprawling web of pro-Kremlin sites posing as news outlets. @vchatelet.bsky.social BlueSky explores #PravdaNetwork w/ @checkfirst.network in this week's the Source: bit.ly/3EcgvpZ

The trend in recent years shows fewer Belarusians are enrolling in foreign universities, Education Minister of #Belarus Andrei Ivanets said. The Weekly Top Fake team verified these claims and proved the opposite. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

How do people get into fact checking? For our #FactsMatter campaign, Senior News & Online journalist Sian Bayley shares how Covid conspiracy theories in local Facebook groups inspired her to tackle online misinformation.

The Kurt Schork Memorial Fund is accepting submissions for its 2025 awards in international journalism. The winners of the 3 award categories – for freelance journalists, local reporters & news fixers – receive a $5,000 prize. Deadline: June 15.

#Russia and #Belarus don’t need foreign technology — a claim backed by the experience of the Russian Empire and the USSR, according to Belarusian political analyst Vadim Yelfimov. We found several academic studies that tell a different story. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

Belarusians will no longer be able to seek asylum in #Poland, claimed the “ZhS Premium” Telegram channel. The channel’s authors wrote that all migrants seeking asylum will be given the cold shoulder. We have proved them wrong. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

What is the @bylinetimes.bsky.social article, shared by #Georgian pro-government media outlets using identical text, actually based on? Read here 👇

This week the US imposed #sanctions on two Afghan businessmen who orchestrated at least two shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain from Crimea to Yemen on board of the Zafar vessel. BIC uncovered the vessel’s involvement in similar shipments to Iran in June 2024. investigatebel.org/en/news/usa-...

“USAID spent $3.4 billion on ‘posts, likes and reposts on social media’ aimed against Crimea’s return to Russia”, stated authors of the state-orchestrated Belarusian Telegram channel Zemlya Nasha. We investigated where this false claim came from. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

A free retelling by a Belarusian state media anchor added to @francescaebel.bsky.social piece at @washingtonpost.com some conclusions that were not present in the original article, such as "everything is great in Belarus and people are perfectly happy". investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

The United States is drafting an emergency plan to lift sanctions, claimed public figure Yuri Voskresensky on the air with Radio Minsk. The Weekly Top Fake team looked into what U.S. officials have actually said about possible directions for #sanctions policy. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

The motivational part of the #sanctions document states that Belbet’s registration as a lottery creates “favourable working conditions,” while Belorusskiye Loterei supports the official Minsk “through generating substantial profit from online #gambling”. investigatebel.org/en/news/sank...

1/4 Supplies of halite industrial salt, a Belaruskali byproduct, circulate in #EU markets despite #sanctions, a new investigation by BIC revealed. This became possible due to simple rebranding of halite into a de-icing agent for roads and pavements, known as Norta.

A state-orchestrated Belarusian TG channel distributed a fake video where a Reporters Without Borders representative accuses "Zelensky and his regime" of the deaths of 54 journalists in #Ukraine. The original video contains no mention of Ukraine. investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...

#Gender inequality is not an issue in Belarus, stated Alexei Belyaev, dean of the Belarusian State University journalism faculty. However even according to official data, back in 2023 in Belarus men earned 26.5% more than women. More details here: investigatebel.org/en/fakenews/...