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This week Belarus asked the Swedish diplomatic mission to leave the country and recalled its own embassy from Stockholm. What sparked this international incident? That would be teddy bears. Small, cuddly soft toys.
Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s last dictator, was angered by a July incident which involved a small aircraft piloted by employees of a Swedish advertising firm entering Belarusian airspace before dropping dozens of teddy bears carrying free speech slogans.
A young Belarusian journalist has been arrested and detained – for taking photographs of teddy bears the government denies exist. Andrei Aliaksandru reports (more…)