Podcast: Calculated Clampdowns In Russia And Belarus?

With attention drawn away to numerous hotspots outside Russia, police cracked down on persistent protests in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk. And in Belarus, analysts wonder whether Moscow had a hand in Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s unusual meeting with jailed opponents, which came before the violent dispersal of street protests and hundreds of arrests. RFE/RL senior correspondent Merhat Sharipzhan joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.