Belarus villagers prefer hard work to city smoke – in pictures

Just a few hours’ drive from the Belarus capital of Minsk, many villagers still live off the land. Nearly 80% of the country’s 9.5 million citizens live in urban areas, but for the rest, being close to nature can outweigh the hardships of country life „итать

Minsk makes a comeback: A new generation of Vietnamese has started hitting the roads on Soviet-era Minsk motorcycles. These smoke-belching dirt bikes were introduced by the former USSR in the 1960s. „итать

If you build it, they will come. „итать

One of the last remaining bosses of ‘old Russian mafia’ who used to operate on the U.S. East Cost in the 1990s has been convicted in New York. 70-year-old Boris ‘Biba’ Nayfeld has got another prison term, this time – for extortion. He has already served several terms, and every time he managed to „итать

“Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy. It is not a side effect, but the central pivot,” wrote Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Lenin compared religion to venereal disease. „итать

On Friday nights, Zybitskaya street — or simply Zyba, as locals call it — turns into a vast party scene, filled with hipsters in bright shirts, tight dark jeans and black-rimmed glasses, showing how they can be carefree in a country that has been labeled the last dictatorship of Europe. „итать

“We’re on a mission,” says Dimitri Grigorovich gesticulating his blue-sheathed hands in the air to a supermarket shopper who stopped to sample his Apiterra raw honey, “to eradicate processed sugars!” „итать

As Russian forces leave Belarus, what are the main lessons to draw from the Zapad-2017 drills? „итать

“Bored by Paris and Rome? Then try a weekend getaway to Tallinn or Minsk — for less than £250,” the British newspaper writes. „итать

Ex-Soviet Belarus only began accepting visa-free tourists this year. I had to explore one of the hardest-drinking, most WWII-nostalgic countries on Earth. „итать