Regnum editor detained at the request of Belarus asked Putin for political asylum

Regnum editor-in-chief Yury Baranchik, who was detained in Moscow at the request of Belarus, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to grant him political asylum in Russia.

“This means that the competent authorities of the Russian Federation, together with the decision on the issue of Baranchik’s extradition to Belarus, will have to resolve the issue on the merits of this petition,” Regnum quotes the journalist’s lawyer.

• Yuri Baranchik was detained on the night of March 15 in Moscow at the request of Belarus. The police announced their intention to extradite him to this country, since he was put on the international wanted list.
• Regnum believes that Baranchik is involved in the same case as the authors of the agency, Yuri Pavlovets, Dmitry Alimkin and Sergey Shiptenko, who are accused of inciting ethnic hatred, and consider the case to be politically motivated.
• The Minister of Information of Belarus, Lilia Ananich , argued that the defendants in the case presented “the activities of the head of the Belarusian state in a tendentious manner”, wrote about the “anti-Russian policy of the Belarusian authorities” and “Belarus’s departure to the West.”