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OSCE PA Delegation’s Minsk Visit Cancelled
11:19, 25/01/2002
Delegation of the special working group for Belarus of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly with Bundestag’s deputy Uta Tsapf at the head, won’t be coming to Minsk. OSCE PA cancelled this visit. The delegation was supposed to arrive in Belarus in early February in order to inspect the country home situation on the spot. On January 22 the Minister for foreign affairs Mikhail Khvostov forwarded to Uta Tsapf a special message, in which he underscored that he greatly appreciates her coming and an opportunity to meet with him. However, the next day the OSCE PA head Adrian Severin, speaking at the PACE session, said that the delegation cancels its visit, as far as the Belarusian authorities failed to ensure the necessary conditions for it. On January 25 the German radio-station “Deutche Welle” reported that OSCE PA changed its mind for two main reasons. Firstly, because the authorities wished the visit’s preparation to take place without the involvement of the OSCE AMG in Minsk. And secondly, they demanded that the OSCE Minsk people must not accompany the delegation during its mission. OSCE considered these conditions to be unacceptable. 
11:18, 25/01/2002, RESPEKT
Following the presidential elections in Belarus the country’s hottest political subject became the enlargement and modernization of a few kilometers’ long Minsk beltway. The motorway was designed to lead the transport flows away from the suburban districts, thus relieving the traffic flow at the major highways. However, over the recent couple of months a wide public resistance fought against the road works. The road lies through the place, called Kuropaty, where in thirties the Stalin’s regime killed and buried thousands of innocent people.
11:17, 25/01/2002, “Dyen”
Five Minsk regional council’s officials have been dismissed from their posts. Among them are the charge d’affaires Fedor Shpartov, head of the department for administrative bodies Nikolai Morozov, head of the department for control and record keeping Igor Migas, head of the Ministry of Finances’ department for revision and control Valery Morozov, head of the housing construction and development department Oleg Kruglikov, deputy chair of the department for emergency situations, housing and public utilities problems Ivan Korobko. This news was voiced at the council’s session on Monday by its chairman Nikolai Domashkevich. The dismissals followed shortly after the council’s leadership paid a visit on Friday to Alexander Lukashenko.
11:16, 25/01/2002
Headship of the State Customs Committee of Belarus is set to make stronger the subdivisions of internal security and attract KGB and Interior Ministry officers to reinforce the fight for purity of the staff of the customs institutions. It was said by the chairman of the State Customs Committee Alyaxandar Shpileusky at a press conference in Minsk on January 24. “I do not see any problems in the fact that a crime committed by a customs officer is revealed by KGB or Interior Ministry officer or frontier guard,” – he underlined.
11:15, 25/01/2002
Participants of the republican consultation of the trade union committees of the largest enterprises that took place on January 24, could not agree on the further actions of the Belarusian Trade Union Federation on annulment of decree from December 14, 2001. As said by Frants Vitko, Chairman of the Belarusian Trade Union Federation, there are two points of view on this matter. Part of the members of the federation believes that to annul this decree active forms of protest should be used. However, the majority of the heads of the local trade union branches still hope to solve this problem by dialogue with authorities. However, BTF head admits that in spite of numerous addresses of the Federation to the leadership of the country, there was no response from them.
11:14, 25/01/2002
The protest rally of teachers and activists of the educational trade union against the arbitrariness of the Belarusian authorities took place earlier today in Minsk. Around 100 people with raised banners in hands came to the Bangalor square of Minsk to express their utter discontent over the December decision of the Belarusian Cabinet, which forbade the centralized transfer of trade union dues, as well as over the labor conditions, imposed on teachers. As claimed by the assembled protesters, the official anti-trade union actions are caused by unfavorable tendencies in the national economy, owing to which the year 2002 will witness an escalation of social tensions.
11:13, 25/01/2002
Alexander Lukashenko received the government’s report on privatizing the petroleum complex’s enterprises and turning them into joint stock. “Interfax” was told by the “Belneftehim” concern leader Ivan Bambiza that the transformations are caused by the “demands, brought forth by the president: the control stock has to stay with the president for the time being.” At the same time the potential partners come up with a few technical conditions, such as the companies’ development with the preservation of their profile, increase in the production of commodity via advanced technologies, coordinating their own investment proposals on modernization and reconstruction with the government. Moreover, preference must be given to the raw materials, produced on the territory of our country, stressed Bambiza. Among the companies on stock are “Naftan”, “Polimir”, “Azot”, “Belshina”, Mogilev and Svetlogorsk “Himvolokno” plants.
11:12, 25/01/2002
Russian brewery “Krynitsa” ceased all works on reconstructing the Minsk “Krynitsa” brewery and withdrew all their specialists, reports “Interfax”. The reason for that was the delay in handing over to “Baltika” a control stock: 50% plus one share.
11:11, 25/01/2002
In 2001 35.5% of Belarusian manufacturing enterprises of Belarus were loss-making, said Frants Vitko, Chairman of the Belarusian Trade Union Federation at briefing on January 24 in Minsk. It is the worst resilt of the year in the last four your years. As said by F.Vitko, in 1998 there were 16.2% of unprofitable manufacturing enterprises in Belarus, in 1999 – 17.1%, and in 2000 – 23.4%.
11:08, 25/01/2002
The US Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, chairman of the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission) addressed the Congress on January with a statement on Belarus. Following you may read its full text:
11:07, 25/01/2002
UCP leader Anatoly Lebedko met in Strasbourg the Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimer. The sides discussed the situation in Belarus, along with the perspectives of its further relations with the Council of Europe and a possibility to hold PACE hearings on political disappearances of Viktor Gonchar, Yuri Zakharenko, Anatoly Krasovsky and Dmitry Zavadsky, as well as to include the young people from Belarus into various training CoE programs. In course of their meeting Walter Schwimer declared: “Belarus’ road to the Council of Europe lies through changing the political climate in the country, releasing Andrei Klimov, setting up commission to investigate into disappearances with the involvement of foreign experts, ensuring opposition’s access to state media, enlarging the parliament’s functions and canceling capital punishment.”
11:06, 25/01/2002
At the proceedings on the case of Alaxandar Chyhir evidence was presented that according to defense, ruins the version of the investigators. Ruslan Sakalou, a welder, witnessed yesterday in court. It was the welder who on A.Chyhir’s request had installed a numbered part from one vehicle to another, allegedly stolen by Chyhir.
11:05, 25/01/2002
A winter Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe session ends in Strasbourg. Yesterday Committee on Education, Culture and Mass Media discussed situation with mass media in Belarus. This discussion stirred up a great interest of MPs, human rights watchdogs and unions of journalists. Five independent journalists and representatives of the Belarusian Association of Journalists headed by its chair Zhanna Litsvina have come from Minsk to Strasbourg. Minister of Information Mikhail Padhainy has also come to Strasbourg.
11:04, 25/01/2002, GazetaSNG.ru
Official Minsk has surprised international community by its extraordinary actions yet again. This time the former head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group Hans-Georg Wieck, who left the country as his four-year term of office ended, was refused to get entry visa. Thus, Belarusian authorities continue the list of scandals started in 1997. We would like to remind that at that time Lukashenka declared at one of the consultations said that he know exactly what the Ambassadors of foreign countries say when meeting at the building of British mission in Minsk.
11:03, 25/01/2002
Rechitsa procuracy allowed the defendant Natalya Brel and her attorney Dmitry Ivanishko to familiarize themselves with the results of the lawsuit, opened against the woman for alleged defaming the president’s honor.
11:02, 25/01/2002
Mogilev court considered the action, brought by the chairman of the Free trade union of the “Zenith” plant Alexander Korolev against the law-enforcers from the Central district police station of Mogilev. Korolev demanded that they return to him a few hundred T-shirts with words “Let’s Say No to a Fool”, seized from him last August.
11:01, 25/01/2002
The National Bank of Belarus, which set on January 1, 2002 the minimum limit of capital for banks, working with the population at the level of 10 euros, won’t revoke licenses from small and middle-sized banks, as it previously pledged to do.
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