Three days ago the Minister for the Interior Naumov neglectfully declared that Yuri Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky and Dmitry Zavadsky - are only four ordinary people among 4-5 thousand missing Belarusians, wanted by police. This indifferent statement by Naumov forced seven courageous "zubrs" to stand in front of the Administration, holding up portraits of the abducted Yuri Zakharenko, Viktor Gonchar, Anatoly Krasovsky and Dmitry Zavadsky. Young people immediately attracted the attention of the police guards, standing on watch at the Administration. These were joined by the Leninsky district law-enforcers.

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reports the Agency of military news with a reference to the leadership of the Borisov tank repair plant of the Ministry of Defense, where they launched pre-sale preparation of the combat vehicles. In order to sell the tanks, produced back in the 80ies, they had to seriously modernize them, by installing new systems of observation, fire etc.

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Belarusian Premier Vladimir Ermoshin declared at his Friday`s meeting with the Belarusian diplomats abroad that the government sees its chief task in 2001 in equalizing the level of Belarusian inflation to that of Russian. Ermoshin stressed that one can achieve that only through "fighting the growth of prices and tariffs in all branches of economy". He didn`t say what sort of fighting this will be and why it hasn`t been done before.

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Belarusian academics and public figures sent their note of protest against Azarenok`s documentary "Soul-catchers" about to be televised on BT. The film contains slanderous accusations of the Catholic Church and its spiritual leaders. The scientists believe that the movie incites religious hatred in the society and humiliates Belarusians.

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As claimed by the chair of the Mogilev region committee Boris Batura, the employment situation in the Mogilev region is "tough". This was mentioned by him during the March 3 press-conference. Last year 56% of the region`s leaders left their posts and these rearrangements were not always justified. Batura noted that he values in other people first of all their professionalism, diligence and seriousness, estimating them according to their achievements at work.

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The law-enforcers detained last weekend the distributors of the special issue of the opposition newspaper "Nasha Svaboda", dedicated to the missing people. This issue cannot be bought at the news agent`s.

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Parliamentary Troika, made up of representatives of the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, will begin its activities March 5 in Minsk. The Parliamentary Troika is headed by Adrian Severin, president of the OSCE PA. It also includes Terry Davis, chair of the Political Committee of PACE, and Yan Marinus Wiersma, chair of the EP delegation for relations with Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.

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The United States and Russia are preparing to revive a Cold War gambit and exchange two men suspected of espionage and fraud, according to German and East European intelligence officials.

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76-year old writer says that he`s been given asylum there. In January this year Bykov was invited to Frankfurt-on-Maine by the local authorities and organizers of the international book fair. After his departure from Belarus Bykov tarried for some time in Finland. In Germany, which the famous writer regularly visited during the past 20 years, Vasil Bykov plans to stay for at least one year and compose an autobiography.

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Chair of the Pukhovichi district committee ruled that "employees of most needed professions - tractor drivers, truck drivers, locksmiths etc." must not give up their job in the district. Thus, the official violated citizens` rights, guaranteed by the Constitution and Labor Code, reports "Vesna" human rights center.

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CIS Committee for Statistics reports that the growth of industrial productivity in Belarus in January 2001, as compared with analogous period of last year, constituted only 3,7%. That`s one of the poorest indexes among all the Commonwealth member states. Georgia is the only one, which is lagging behind Belarus - 10,6% decrease of the industrial efficiency. The Committee has no data on the figures in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

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The Committee for agriculture of the Grodno region runs the danger of failing the sowing campaign. For the time being the region has only 75% of the required number of tractors. In comparison with the year 2000 their amount decreased by 791 units, plows - by 419, cultivator machines - by 517. The number of mowers and combine harvesters is also in great decline. Their technical maintenance is in absolute plight: during the first two months of the year 2001 there have been shipped spare parts, worth only 7 mln. BLR.

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