Last week the authorities suddenly started to fulfill the promise of the Lukashenka’s first pre-election campaign. On April 2 all the official mass media informed that the state program aimed at fighting corruption and bribery has been designed. And to make everybody believe how timely this paper is, the first ‘bloodcurdling’ facts of abuses in provinces are published.

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On April 8 Alyaxandar Lukashenka met the president of the company “Itera”, chair of the director’s board of the joint-stock company “Itera Holding” Igor Makarov and the president of “LUKoil” Vagit Alekperov. The participants of the talks discussed the questions concerning possible participation of the companies in selling shares of the republic’s enterprises. The meeting with the leadership of “Itera” and “LUKoil” has commenced the series of negotiations with Russian and other foreign investors, planned for the next week by the Belarusian leader. As said by Lukashenka, his decision to meet the potential investors personally was evoked by his desire to discuss the basic terms for transfer from governmental ownership in detail.

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A collective mission of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has started its work in Minsk. Its aim is to prepare an evaluation of the state expenses. It is planned that the mission would work in Belarus until April, 19 but it cannot be excluded that it would stay longer.

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Anonymous creators of the web-site www.april19.org addressed Internet users last weekend. In an announcement placed at their site they propose Internet sites’ owners to place their clips at their sites. “It would help to make operation of the site easier and make the process of downloading for all users uncomplicated”. In support of this initiative web-site “Charter’97” decided to place to the section “Loud cases” a clip from www.april19.org “We remember”, dedicated to the disappeared Belarusian politicians.

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13 reporters were arrested and convicted on April 5 in Hrodna. They were detained during a protest pickets that were held by reporters (majority of them are members of the Belarusian Association of Journalists). The reporters protested against criminal prosecution of their colleagues, Mikalai Marevich and Pavel Mazheika, staffers of the newspaper “Pahonia” shut down by the authorities.

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The criminal proceedings against the editor-in-chief of the “Pahonia” newspaper Mikalai Markevich and the reporter of the newspaper Pavel Mazheika is to start on April 9 at 11 a.m. in the court of the Lenin district of Hrodna. The reporters are accused of a crime relating Article 367 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (“Libel on the president of Belarus”). Mazhejka and Markevich face 5-year prison term. Judge Mukalai Syarheika is to be chairman of the trial.

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The government of Russia decided to directly dismiss the president of the Russian-Belarussian oil company “Slavneft” Mikhail Gutseriev. It was informed last Friday by Interfax agency with reference to anonymous source in the Russian government. This decision was unexpected for many, as in a few months at the following meeting of the shareholders Gutseriev could lose his position without much ado, “Belorusskaya Gazeta” informs.

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If we suppose that starting from 1992 Belarus has begun to build capitalism, and not to restore socialism, concentrating on the unconditional defense of the property rights, then in 1993 the economical slump would be stopped (due to an appearance of new companies, restructuring of state enterprises, as well as due to bringing to an end a practice when the resources are transferred from owners todependants). According to “Belorusskaya Gazeta”, Belarus could occupy many niches that later were successfully filled by Polish, Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian or Austrian manufacturers.

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