Viktor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images
Belarusian women drink and eat during a celebration of the pagan holiday of Rusalye, devoted to water nymphs, in the village of Sosny, Belarus, on June 10, 2012. According to legend, during the spring and summer mermaids come out of the water and visit the village, walking through fields and meadows.
Viktor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images
Villagers throw their crowns as they celebrate the pagan holiday of Rusalye in Sosny on June 10, 2012.
Viktor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images
Special task soldiers demonstrate their skills outside Minsk, Belarus, on April 7, during a show as the unit celebrates its anniversary.
Dmitry Lovetsky / AP
A child standing on a cannon watches a firework during celebration of Defenders of the Fatherland Day in downtown St.Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. The Defenders of the Fatherland Day, celebrated in Russia on Feb. 23, honors the nation's military and is a nationwide holiday.
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters
A dog looks out of its cage at the Belarussian border guard's base near the Belarus-Poland border in a forest near the village of Kamenuki, some 360 km (224 miles) south-west of Minsk, Feb. 23, 2012. Belarus marked the Defender of the Fatherland Day on Tuesday.
Dmitry Lovetsky / AP
A child throws snow balls at a member from a historical military club who is wearing a Nazi German uniform in the World War II battle reconstruction during celebration of Defenders of the Fatherland Day in St. Petersburg.
Dmitry Lovetsky / AP
Children play with a grenade launcher during a celebration of Defenders of the Fatherland Day in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
People take part in a rally to support presidential candidate and Russia's current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Luzhniki stadium on the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow Feb. 23, 2012. Russia will go to the polls for a presidential election on March 4.
Related story: Russians rally for Vladimir Putin -- and 2 days off work
Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA
A woman works at a felt boot factory in Smilovichi, Belarus, on Jan. 16, 2012.
EPA reports:
The Smilovichi Felting Factory was founded in 1928, when Smilovichi was a small Jewish settlement of craftsmen. Five of those craftsmen organized a small artel, which produced warm boots called ‘valenki’ for cold weather. Later the artel was transformed into the enterprise 'Red Star', which was to supply Germany during the Second World War, when Belarus was occupied by the Nazis.
Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA
Hota Kanapskaya, 73, has been working at the factory for 53 years.
The raw sheep’s wool is imported from Dagestan, Central Asia and Belgium, with only five per cent produced domestically. The production of the factory is exported to Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Baltic States and to the countries of Western Europe. About 800 pairs of felt boots can be produced every day at the factory, which makes about 200,000 pairs of ‘valenki’ per year.
Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA
The boots begin to take shape.
Patrick Semansky / AP
Winter has arrived in the Northern hemisphere. Take in the sights from North America, Europe and Asia.
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters
Gennady Sayevich, 79, carries bundles of hay at his house in the village of Tatarka, Belarus, some 106 miles east of Minsk, Jan. 22. Sayevich, the last villager in the abandoned village, surrounded with marsh and forest, lives alone, where the nearest populated village is about 5 miles away.
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters
Gennady Sayevich, 79, talks with a relative on the phone in his house.
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters
Gennady Sayevich, 79, lights a stove in his house.
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters
Police in plain-clothes detain protesters at Independence square in Minsk, Belarus, on November 7. Several dozen people had gathered in Minsk on Monday to mark Revolution Day, the official public holiday commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Related content on PhotoBlog:
Economic woes drive Belarussians toward a rather benign form of anarchy.
Belarussian opposition activist in court.
Russian citizens on trial in Belarus.
Politicians and protesters detained in critized Belarus election.
Presidential candidate beaten as election protests turn violent in Belarus.
Sergei Grits / AP
Belarussians wait in line to buy meat at considerably cheaper prices than at the market, in front of the closed door of a shop before it opens in Minsk on Aug. 31. Belarus is mired in its worst financial crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union. The government devalued the ruble by some 50 percent this year, causing panic buying of staples and huge lines at foreign exchange offices. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko says the ex-Soviet nation will allow a free float of its currency in mid-September.
In the surreal world of Belarus, standing in line outside a shop could be considered subversive.
When I saw this picture, I remembered reading about a new law drafted by the government of Alexander Lukashenko, who is frequently described as "Europe's last dictator."
The New York Times reported the proposed law thus: In Belarus, Just Being Can Prompt an Arrest. The paper explained:
[The draft law] prohibits the "joint mass presence of citizens in a public place that has been chosen beforehand, including an outdoor space, and at a scheduled time for the purpose of a form of action or inaction that has been planned beforehand and is a form of public expression of the public or political sentiments or protest."
Anyone proven to be taking part in such a gathering would be subject to up to 15 days of administrative arrest, the draft says.
Victor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images
A rainbow is seen near the village of Stankovo, some 30 km west of Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 14.
Victor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images
Two women run along a field while a rainbow stretches across the sky in the background near the village of Stankovo, Belarus, Aug. 14.
Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA
Somewhere under a rainbow near the village of Pilchuki, some 210 km from Minsk, Belarus, two local women sell home-grown potatoes at the roadside on a rainy day on July 4.
A good picture and a charming caption.
Viktor Drachev / AFP - Getty Images
Belarusian Catholics attend a procession during the annual Icon of the Mother of God celebration in Budslav, about 90 miles north of Minsk, on July1.
Kseniya Avimova / AFP - Getty Images
A man shears a sheep at a farm in the village of Konukhovo some 150 kms southwest of Minsk on Thursday, June 23. The farm keeps some 2500 sheep and is the largest in Belarus.
Check out more animal photos in our latest roundup here.
Julia Darashkevich / Reuters
Belarussian opposition activist Pavel Severinets is guarded by policemen during a court hearing in Minsk on May 11. Severinets appeared in court on Wednesday as trials of activists arrested on December 19 for rallying against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko continue.
Related content on PhotoBlog:
Russian citizens on trial in Belarus, March 10.
Politicians and protesters detained in critized Belarus election, December 20.
Presidential candidate beaten as election protests turn violent in Belarus, December 19.
E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS