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On August 9, the anniversary of Belarus's contested presidential election, Alexander Lukashenko held a press conference that lasted for more than eight hours. Responding to questions from journalists, the Belarusian dictator downplayed the scale of the opposition demonstrations that erupted last year, denied evidence that Belarusian police tortured protesters in custody, and said the UK could "choke" on its latest package of sanctions against Belarus. Lukashenko also claimed that he's going to step down "very soon." Meduza summarizes Lukashenko's statements here.

There are six sisters in the Mirontsava family. In August 2020, three of them - Viktoriya, Aliaksandra, and Anastasiya - were detained during the opposition protests in Minsk. Aliaksandra managed to flee Belarus, but Viktoriya and Anastasiya were found guilty of "breaching public order" and "using violence against police officers" and sentenced to time in prison. The two sisters, who are now in a prison colony, are considered political prisoners. Prior to her arrest, Anastasiya was a student at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts in Minsk. She continued drawing even while in custody - first in a detention center and now inside the camp. Anastasiya passes her drawings and letters to close friends, who publish them on an Instagram account dedicated to her artwork. Despite the difficult conditions in which she lives and works, Anastasiya's texts and drawings are full of curiosity and tenderness toward the world. With the artist's permission, Meduza shares some of Anastasiya Mirontsava's works and excerpts from her letters here.

Yassen Zassoursky helped shape generations of Russian journalists. Earlier this month, he died at the age of 91. Before becoming the president of the journalism department at Moscow State University (MSU), Zassoursky served as dean from 1965 to 2007. Students who graduated during his tenure now occupy positions across Russia's political spectrum, from liberal intellectuals like Sergey Parkhomenko and Dmitry Bykov to United Russia State Duma deputies like Pyotr Tolstoy and Alexander Khinstein. Andrei Richter was a long-time professor at MSU's School of Journalism who now serves as an adviser at the OSCE Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media and as a professor researcher at Comenius University in Bratislava. At Meduza's request, he shares his thoughts about Yassen Zassoursky's life and legacy.

On the evening of August 10, Belarusian state television aired a brief interview with Russian national Sofia Sapega. The 23-year-old was detained in Minsk alongside Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasevich on May 23, shortly after the forced landing of a Ryanair plane. After spending weeks in a detention center run by Belarus's intelligence agency (the KGB), Sapega and Protasevich were transferred to house arrest in late June. They are now awaiting trial on multiple felony charges. In conversation with television host Ksenia Lebedeva, Sapega recounted their circumstances surrounding the arrests. Among other things, she underscored that "there were no KGB officers on the plane."

Journalists from the BBC published a new investigation (available in English and Russian) about the operations of the Russian mercenary group Wagner in Libya. The report is largely based on information obtained from an electronic tablet that was allegedly retrieved from a battlefield in western Libya. A local contact handed the device over to the BBC back in February. Upon gaining access to the information on the tablet, the journalists discovered that it contained dozens of files, including maps indicating Wagner positions, fighters' codenames, and the locations of mines. The BBC also obtained a separate 10-page document from a Libyan intelligence security source that allegedly "hints" at who could be funding the Wagner group.

Dr. Zaius and Charlton Heston first battled for the fate of mankind more than half a century ago, but the original Planet of the Apes made something of a comeback in 2021, albeit mangled by online anti-vaxxer propaganda. In part at least, that is one of the revelations in Facebook's latest report on disinformation. Meduza breaks down how a Russia-linked ad agency recycled a monkey meme for a juvenile but apparently serious campaign against the West's coronavirus vaccines.

An oil spill off Russia's Black Sea coast has contaminated an area at least 400 times bigger than initially estimated, scientists say. The spill took place on Saturday, August 7, at a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) oil terminal near the port city of Novorossiysk. The CPC, which pumps in oil from Kazakhstan, addressed the spill two days later, claiming that an equipment breakdown caused 12 cubic meters of oil (12,000 liters) to spread over 200 square meters (2,153 square feet). Though the consortium claimed that the situation was "normalized" as of August 8, Russian scientists later reported that on that same day, the oil spill covered an area of 80 square kilometers (31 miles). Russia's natural resources regulator is currently working at the site of the accident to establish just how much oil spilled into the sea. Russian investigators also opened a felony case for environmental damage.

Russian investigators began carrying out searches at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) on August 12 - the day after media reports emerged about an oil spill in the Black Sea that took place over the weekend. The criminal investigation regarding the spill was also reclassified under more serious marine pollution charges, which carry punishments of up to two years behind bars. At the same time, the CPC's chief executive insists that a slick in the Black Sea identified by Russian scientists is not oil, and the regional governor says there are no visible oil spills along the coastline. Scientists refute these claims. As one environmental expert told Meduza, oil residue on the water's surface has likely evaporated due to heat, but there's still a risk of environmental damage from the spill.

Liya Milushkina and Artyom Milushkin are a well-known pair in the Pskov region. Liya managed the local branch of the opposition movement "Open Russia," and Artyom attended and organized protests, too. In January 2019, SWAT police raided their home, terrifying the couple's two small children. The authorities arrested Liya and Artyom on suspicion of felony drug trafficking and later charged Milushkin with organizing a series of arson attacks, as well. The Milushkins maintain their innocence and argue that the case against them is politically motivated. On August 12, 2021, a judge sentenced Artyom to 11 years in a maximum-security prison and sentenced Liya to 10.5 years in prison, which she won't begin until 2024, while she cares for their children. After the court's decision was announced, Artyom Milushkin ripped a bench from the courtroom floor and threw it in a fit of rage. He won't be home with his kids again until they're in their 20s. Meduza examines what we know about this controversial case.

The Berlin Crisis was already underway in the summer of 1961. This escalation of the Cold War began with the Soviet Union demanding the withdrawal of British, French, and U.S. forces from Berlin. These Western troops, as well as their Soviet counterparts, had been in Germany as occupying forces since 1945. But Berlin's status wasn't settled: both soldiers and civilians had the right to move between the city's western and eastern (Soviet) sectors. The Western allies rejected Moscow's ultimatum. In response, the East German authorities closed the border between the city's eastern and western sectors and began building the Berlin Wall - at first, it was primarily barbed wire entanglements and fences. After August 13, 1961, the city was divided in two for nearly 30 years. The wall became a barrier preventing Eastern Berliners from trying to flee to the West. And its fall in 1989 became the main symbol of the end of the Cold War and the collapse of communist regimes in Europe.