Democracy Digest: Fast Sprint to Warsaw; Tucker’d Out in Budapest

With Poland, which already hosts a growing number of Belarusian exiles, immediately offering the 24-year-old sprinter a humanitarian visa, Timanovskaya took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo until a flight to Warsaw could be arranged. Contrary to expectations, she didn't fly directly to Warsaw, but took a detour to the Austrian capital Vienna instead. Polish diplomatic staff accompanied her on the flight. From there, she took a second flight to Warsaw on Wednesday. Timanovskaya's husband, who reportedly also fled Belarus in the meantime, has also been offered a visa by Poland.

Fears for the safety of Belarusian exiles are high after Vitaly Shishov, an activist living in Kiev, was found hanged in a park close to his residence in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday, a day after he had failed to return home from a jog. Shishov was head of the Belarusian House in Ukraine, and was actively helping Belarusians escape the rising repression in the country since Lukashenko won the rigged 2020 presidential election.

Earlier this year, journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend were hauled off an international flight after the Lukashenko regime used a bomb hoax over Belarusian territory to force down the Ryanair plane they were travelling on.

Poland could also get a new US ambassador this month after Mark Brzezinski, son of former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, was nominated on Wednesday by the White House.

A lawyer and diplomat, Mark Brzezinski was White House coordinator for US democracy and rule of law assistance programs for Southeast Europe during the Bill Clinton administration and foreign policy advisor to the campaign of Barack Obama. He studied Polish constitutional matters while on a Fulbright Scholarship and has...