Belarus ranks 154th in press freedom
Belarus slipped three places to 154th in an annual 173-nation index of press freedom around the world that was released by Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday.
The country ranked 151st in 2006 and 2007. Russia was 141st and Ukraine 87th this year.
Iceland topped the list while the US was 36th. North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea were the lowest-ranked nations.
The Paris-based press freedom group described those three countries as "unchanging hells" in which the population is cut off from the world and is subjected to "propaganda worthy of a bygone age"
Some of the newer democracies, including Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia, featured in the top 10.
Georgia slipped 54 places to 120th in the survey after Russia invaded the country in August, blocking journalists from entering the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia under its control.
