The Belarusian leadership has withdrawn the accreditation of foreign media in the country. After weeks of human rights violations and harassment against journalists, this represents another blatant violation of the freedom of the press and freedom of opinion. Independent reporting on the demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people and the violent actions of the state authorities is therefore being further restricted on a massive scale. In our view, this alarming development shows once again that Mr Lukashenko clearly no longer has the interests of his people and his country at heart. The threat to reduce the diplomatic presence of a number of foreign missions also fits this picture. Anyone who takes such steps is seeking to ensure that their actions go unobserved.