Senator Helms released a statement, setting off an alarm bell over the disappearance of Yuri Zakharenko two years ago and absence of any worthwhile progress in investigation procedures in the matter:

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Coalition for Democracy and Human Rights in Belarus, namely two of its members Alex Silwanowicz and Jan Zaprudnik, pointed out the following on the eve of the second anniversary of Yuri Zakharenko`s disappearance:

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May 7 marks the second anniversary of the disappearance of Gen. Yuri Zakharenko, former Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus. Witnesses who were discovered by an independent public commission have testified that on May 7, 1999, Gen. Zakharenko was forcibly detained at a location near his home, put into a car by several unidentified men and taken away. No trace of him has been found since then. His disappearance is believed to be associated with his criticism of Lukashenko and his efforts to start an independent Union of Officers, for which he was dismissed from the Ministry. His disappearance -- like others in Belarus -- is a stark indication of the wholesale breakdown of the rule of law in Belarus.

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On May 7 there took place a picket-line in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Holland (Hague). The action was run by the Dutch branch of the Belarusian Center. The goal of the action was to express concern over the disappearance of leaders and activists of the Belarusian opposition. Holland is another country where Belarusian political refugees got united in order to promote democratic transformations in Belarus. They have organized a branch of the Belarusian Center, whose head office is located in Belgium. From early this year they had organized several manifestations in front of the Belarusian and Russian embassies. The chairman of the Holland affiliate is Eduard Krupianski, reports director of the Belarusian Center in Belgium Pavel Radzuk.

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"Conditions for the OSCE AMG staying in Belarus may well be revised," - such a threat emanated from the Vice-Premier of the Belarusian government, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Khvostov in course of his Minsk meeting with the ambassador Hans Georg Wieck.

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That`s how Russian media nicknamed the blockbuster of the Belarusian filmmaker Mikhail Ptashuk "In August 1944<sup>th</sup>". This detective story about 2<sup>nd</sup> World War was produced under Lukashenko`s personal supervision. He sincerely hoped that the movie would win a prize with the Cannes festival and thus donated almost 2 million dollars from the state budget. They hired a dozen of renowned Russian actors to play in the movie, but the initiative failed all the same, says Gazeta.ru.

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The session was originally scheduled for May 11-12 in Grodno. RIA "Novosti" correspondent contacted the event`s secretariat, inquiring about the reasons for the cancellation, but they wouldn`t tell him. The new date of the session is yet to be fixed. As a matter of fact, they planned to discuss during the Grodno assembly their common state budget and financial problems. As you remember the state secretary of the union state Pavel Borodin spent a few months in Brooklyn jail and was later bailed out on huge ransom.

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The "Civil Forum" collected 27 thousand signatures against involuntary assignment of students. Organisation offered to exclude the provision on the enforced job allocation from the amended version of the law "On education in the Republic of Belarus".

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In the first quarter of this year the volume of oil production at "Naftan" refinery dropped by 152 thousand 400 tons. The structure of petroleum consumers also underwent certain changes. As a result - the plan on duties was unfulfilled with 4bln.900mln. rubles underpaid. In other words, the town of Novopolotsk will only get some 7% of the levied tax size. The main reason for the failure to comply with the plan is as follows: "Naftan" started purchasing its own petroleum in Russia and now pays VAT directly into the Russian state budget.

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Annual military parade won`t take place on the Victory Day. The official version says it was put off to July 3 - the day of Minsk liberation from Nazi invasion. The Defense Ministry officials claim that the thing was postponed because 2001 is not a jubilee year, though previously same sources reported that the preparation activities for the parade were going at full force. Moreover, introducing new Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev to his employees last month, Lukashenko underscored that the man`s first exam will be the successfulness of the May 9 parade.

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While passing around "Nasha Svaboda" special issues on May 7, 11 ZUBR activists were captured by police. At first, the law-enforcers detained near the Victory square the under-age Pavel Kislyakov, Nikolai Leshkovich, Aleksei Rudakovsky and Sergei Titovets. The papers were confiscated with no protocol filed.

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Sept. 2, 9, 16 or 23 - one of these days would most likely witness the second presidential elections in the history of Belarus. These dates were proposed at the session of the working group of the parliament`s lower chamber. Under the country`s Constitution, the latest term for the presidential ballot is September 27, 2001.

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The European Union released a statement, dedicated to the 2^nd anniversary since the abduction of former Belarusian Interior Minister general Yuri Zakharenko. The general was in charge of the country`s interior forces throughout 1994-1996. Later he moved to the opposition`s side.

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At the Washington briefing on May 7 the US Department of State official Richard Boucher said the following: "General Yuri Zakharenko, former Interior Minster of Belarus, disappeared off the street two years ago and we have no confirmation of any serious official attempts to investigate into the matter."

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On Monday Alexander Lukashenko passed a decree to ensure public order during mass meetings and demonstrations. The document is called "On some regulations to sophisticate the order of mass assemblies, gatherings, street protests, rallies, picketing and other mass actions," - Interfax was told in the president`s Administration.

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Dmitry Ivanovsky, chair of the association of freelance painters and member of the Grodno BPF affiliate, received a notification letter from the local authorities, reading that by May 10 he is required to move out of the workshop he presently occupies. This arbitrary decision is allegedly based on the presidential order #302 of August 12, 1996.

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The Patriarch of Moscow and All of Russia doesn`t intend to invite the pontiff to Russia, Interfax quotes the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Aleksiy the Second. The high priest assumes that in the near future Pope`s visit is very unlikely to take place in Russia. The major obstacle to that is the "continued expansion of Roman Catholicism", which is currently underway in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and some other countries, despite "apologies and words of reconciliation".

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Pensions, smaller than the established subsistence wage, are received by 200 thousand Belarusian nationals, said the Minister for social protection Olga Dargel during her May 4 press-conference in Minsk.

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The agricultural husbandries of the Vitebsk region are failing to comply with a key provision of all collective accords and agreements - timely payment of salaries. This is particularly true of the Postavy and Vitebsk districts. Over 400 farms have never cleared off their March indebtedness before the peasants, though it`s high time they paid out the April money. The overall salary debt reaches now 2bln. rubles.

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Since the beginning of the year Russia registered 35 cases of cattle rabies, mostly in the regions, adjacent with Belarus: Krasninsky, Monastyrschinsky, Hislavichsky, Shumyachsky and Ershichsky. As deemed by region`s chief state veterinary inspector Oleg Novikov, the outburst of the disease was caused by the reduction in use of chemicals and fertilizers in the fields, which contributed to the growing spreading of rodents.

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