The Czech government has approved a programme to help citizens of Russia and Belarus who have fled persecution in their home countries.
The programme, called Civil Society, will make it easier for the Czech authorities to grant visas to Russians and Belarussians if they can show they face persecution for opposing undemocratic regimes at home.
Independent journalists and academics were likely to be among those who could take advantage of the programme, foreign minister Jan Lipavsky said.
Belarussian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya recently appealed to the Czech authorities on a trip to Prague to provide protection for activists forced to flee Belarus.
Source: BBC