British News Agency

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said the Belarusian authorities were attempting to label the Instagram account of Iaroslav Chornogor, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Special Representative for Belarus, as “extremist material”.

Tykhyi said the Minsk authorities were following Moscow's methods to silence independent voices, adding that similar decisions had also been taken against various programs supported by the European Union (EU) and Lithuania's Central Project Management Agency.

Arguing that the Belarusian and Russian authorities were spreading fear among their own populations by suppressing dissenting voices, Tykhyi, together with the EU, called for the immediate reversal of these decisions and for Belarusians to be given free access to information.

Tykhyi called for an end to the repression and stressed that pressure should be increased on the Belarusian and Russian authorities, which threaten Europe's security.