Link the article? Sounds badly researched as Belarus and Russia are cold places with a lot more crime than hotter places in East and South East Asia.

It is probably "somewhat" true when accounting for all possible variables, as the better the weather the more time people spend outside.

Crime rises in the summer in most areas, iirc.

You’re greatly misinformed. Russia and Belarus are tons safer than your average American or Western European city.

That’s just not true. The violent crime rate in Russia is many times that of any Western European country, and their intentional homicide rate is slightly higher than America’s. In terms of murder rate Belarus sits much closer to Western Europe than America, but it still sits above Western Europe.