Russian minister visits Belarus, discusses media conditions

By YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister says he has discussed the Russian media situation in Belarus during a visit to the country. A journalist who worked for a Russian newspaper in Belarus was arrested this month after writing an article about a shootout in Minsk that killed an opposition supporter and a state security service officer. His story for Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted a friend describing the opposition supporter in a positive light. The journalist faces charges of inciting social strife and insulting authorities. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that Russia and Belarus have a “shared understanding of the need to create maximally comfortable conditions for the Russian media in Belarus and the Belarusian media in Russia.”