‘We cannot afford to lose`: Belarusian opposition leader on Roscrea summers and fighting Lukashenko`s regime
(WorldNews Europe)

The summer Alexander Lukashenko became president of Belarus, an 11-year-old girl called Svetlana Pilipchuk travelled from its small southern town of Mikashevichy to the other side of Europe – to Roscrea, Co Tipperary. It was 1994, three years after Belarus had emerged from the crumbling Soviet Union, and eight years on from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, just 250km from Mikashevichy, which had spewed radioactivity across the region. As Lukashenko swept to power on an anti-corruption campaign, Svetlana and other children from areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster were spending a few weeks with host families far away in Ireland, where charities helped give them holidays, healthcare and...