A bomb exploded on 10 September at a district court building in the Belarusian capital, causing damage but no casualties, Belarusian state radio reported. Leading opposition figures, for their part, said the explosion seemed to be a government provocation. Vyacheslav Sivchik, executive secretary of opposition Belarusian Popular Front, said neither the front nor any group or individual associated was connected with the bombing. An unidentified man called an independent local newspaper and took responsibility for the blast on behalf of a group calling itself the Belarusian Liberation Army. The group said it bombed a gas pipeline earlier this year.
Nothing is known about the group, however.
ITAR-TASS quoted officials from the Russian embassy in Minsk as saying they were told the equipment was needed for investigations into the case of jailed ORT journalist Pavel Sheremet. The officials said the Russian embassy had expressed its concern that this latest incident will further strain Russian-Belarusian relations. Belarusian authorities have arrested two ORT crews over the past two months for allegedly violating the Russian-Lithuanian border. Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembskii said on 10 September that Moscow will not give up its efforts to secure Sheremet's release. They vowed to work for closer political and economic ties.