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Belarus Border Officials Say Opposition Figure Detained Trying to Enter
Ukraine

VOA News

   Belarus border officials sayMaria Kolesnikova, a leading member of
   Belarus' opposition, was detained early Tuesday while trying to cross
   into neighboring Ukraine.

   The officials said Kolesnikova was traveling with two other opposition
   movement members, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov, who both
   successfully entered Ukraine.

   The circumstances of how the group ended up at the border was not
   immediately clear.

   DeputyUkrainianInterior Minister Anton Gerashchenko wrote on
   Facebookthat what happened Tuesday was not a voluntary departure, but
   rather what he called a forced expulsion.

   Monday brought calls from Germany and Britain demanding Belarusian
   President Alexander Lukashenko disclose Kolesnikova's location after
   reports she was seized by unidentified men in Minsk.

   Kolesnikovawas the last of three women left inside Belarus who came
   together in the opposition coordination council to try to defeat
   Lukashenko inanAugust 9election. He was declared winner, but opposition
   parties, along with the United States and the European Union, say the
   poll was rigged.

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