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Summary Lukashenko suggested that Swedish embassy in Minsk had been involved in planning July 4 escapade.
Authorities in Belarus arrested and fined two journalists for posing for photographs holding teddy bears after hundreds were dropped by air on the country in a pro-democracy stunt, the Belarussian Association of Journalists said.Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president, also suggested that the Swedish embassy in Minsk had been involved in planning the July 4 escapade, in an outburst likely to widen a diplomatic rift with Sweden over the incident.Those who came and prepared the violation of the state border worked together with the (Swedish) embassy. We have proof of this, Lukashenko was quoted as saying by the Belarus state news agency Belta.The journalists arrest and Lukashenkos accusation underlined the depth of his anger and embarrassment over the stunt and his determination to punish those he views as being responsible for it.The two journalists, Irina Kozlik, who works for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, and Yulia Doroshkevich, a press photographer, were each fined 3 million Belarussian roubles (about $400) at separate court hearings in Minsk and released.An official for the ex-Soviet republics journalist association said that Kozlik, 27, and Doroshkevich, 31, were detained on Wednesday evening in the capital Minsk.The two women were accused of carrying out an unsanctioned protest, Andrei Bastunets, deputy head of the association, told Reuters.The July 4 stunt, in which a light aircraft chartered by a Swedish PR firm Studio Total dropped 800 toy bears carrying pro-democracy messages over Belarussian territory, prompted Lukashenko to sack his air defense and border guards chiefs and expel Swedens ambassador.The teddy bear blitz was the latest pro-democracy stunt aimed at mocking Lukashenkos iron grip on a country he has ruled since 1994, three years after the Soviet Unions break-up.Once described as Europes last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the European Union and United States over a harsh crackdown on opponents who challenged his re-election in December 2010.Last summer, opposition groups staged waves of silent protests in Minsk in which people engaged in synchronized public clapping and coordinated their mobile phones to ring out in unison to show their disapproval of Lukashenkos style of rule.
