Standing on the shore of a picturesque reservoir, the resort is surrounded by a fence and resembles a prison camp more than a spa. “I haven’t been to a resort like this since I was 12,” said Olga Matuzo, a 42-year-old Russian who had traveled 1,500 miles from the Russian city of Chelyabinsk with her sick mother. Even her mother, familiar with Soviet standards of hospitality, was appalled by the conditions, she said. According to this new version of what happened, the men had been lured to Belarus by Ukrainian spies, who planned to seize their plane as it flew over Ukraine and have the men arrested over their role fighting in eastern Ukraine. That Belarus has changed its story so dramatically is a measure of how swiftly the country’s strongman leader, Mr. Lukashenko, has reassessed his political interests.

Source: New York Times September 20, 2020 19:07 UTC