OSCE and its Chairman-in-Office have “to stop trying turn into politics the relations between Belarus and this organization,” said in an exclusive interview to “Interfax” the Foreign Minister of Belarus Mikhail Khvostov. Meantime, the Minister underscored that “all these troikas and working groups won’t lead to anything only because there’s no political will nor OSCE leadership’s desire to solve this issue, but there’s only the desire to give a political meaning to things and constantly reiterate that Belarus is both the present and the future problem of OSCE,” – he said.

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On May 24 a delegation headed by the member of the Central military committee, chief of the General headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army of China, Colonel General Fu Tsiuaniu arrives in Belarus with an official visit. As Belarusian Ministry of Defense informs, during the visit issues of further development of bilateral military cooperation between Belarus and China are to be discussed. The delegation is to visit a memorial complex “Heroic Brest Fortress”, Military Academy of Belarusian Republic and Minsk Suvorov military school.

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On May 27-28 ambassadors of a number of countries of the Southern Africa in Russia (the SAR, Zambia, Namibia and Tanzania, accredited in Belarus as well. Besides, ambassadors of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique, who are not accredited in our country, will come.

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“Nasha Niva” editorial board received today a letter from the Belarusian prosecutor general Viktor Sheiman, in which the prosecutor general expressed protest against the recent decision by the Supreme Economic court, which cancelled the warning against “Nasha Niva” in early 2002 after the newspaper mentioned in one of its articles the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

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The Security Council and Alexander Lukashenko passed a decision to modernize the short-range air-defense complexes (according to the NATO’s classification: SA-11 “Gadfly”), which are possessed by the ground troops of the Belarusian army, said head of the artillery department of Belarus colonel Vladimir Talai. According to him, modernization of “Book” complexes to the level of “Book M1” will be carried out at the Belarusian enterprises with the participation of the Ulianovsk mechanical plant – the main supplier of spare parts for the manufacture of complexes.

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In the near future Russia intends to introduce significant changes into the petroleum export system, RIA “Novosti” was told on Friday by the Vice-Premier Viktor Khristenko, commenting on the results of the meeting of the governmental commission on the access to the oil pipelines.

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In April this year the average accrued salary of the Belarusian state employees rose from 103 to 196 USD in the national currency equivalent. According to the Ministry of statistics and analysis, to which BelaPAN refers, as compared to March fixtures, there rose the salary by 3,9% (from 179.486 to 186.541 rubles), while the dollar’s rate grew by 1,1% and the consumer prices – by 2,9%. Nonetheless, in 2002 the salary growth in the ruble equivalent still lagged behind both the prices and dollar rate.

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Belarus introduced licenses on beer import on May 20 this year. All foreign beer will need to be licensed, Russian included. Under the Cabinet of Minister’s ruling #440 of April 8, 2002, the licenses will be granted by the Ministry of trade.

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The announcement of two important security agreements between Russia and the West and the summit meeting between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have triggered a round of euphoric rhetoric. It is widely proclaimed that Mr. Putin is leading Russia to "join the West"; the Bush administration`s ambassador to Moscow, Sandy Vershbow, last week spoke of the United States and Russia "increasingly becoming allies in the full sense of the term." Certainly the new agreements, on reductions of nuclear weapons and cooperation between Russia and NATO, are welcome, even if both offer more in political symbolism than in substance. So is Mr. Putin`s willingness to cooperate with the war on terrorism. But before the lovefest in St. Petersburg gets fully underway, it`s worth pointing out that, in both foreign and domestic policy, Mr. Putin`s state continues to differ dramatically from the democracies that are genuine U.S. allies.

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Relations between Russia and the West have rarely been better. But what does it mean in practice? And can it last? “But there is still a long way to go. Take Belarus, about the last truly autocratic regime left in Europe, and Russia`s closest Slavic ally. The country`s western neighbours speak out regularly on Belarus`s rigged elections, harassment of journalists and members of the opposition, and other chicanery. But Russia is silent. Despite Mr Putin`s visible distaste for Alexander Lukashenka, his mercurial and eccentric Belarussian counterpart, Russia endorsed the rigged elections that returned him to office last year,” – wrote the British “The Economist” ahead of the Vladimir Putin’s meeting with the US president George Bush. Read below the full text of the article.

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“Unfortunately, to date, the Belarusian government has not taken us up on our offer to explore a "step-by-step" effort. We regret this silence, but we remain prepared to pursue a "step-by-step" improvement in relations with Belarus. There are opportunities here: for the Lukashenko regime to improve relations with the United States, for Belarus to move toward Europe and out of its self-imposed isolation, and for the Belarusian people to attain the democratic freedoms that they deserve and are ready for. There is a clear road-map for moving forward. The only question is whether the Lukashenko government wishes to do so,” – said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Pifer on May 22, 2002. Read below the full text of the statement:

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Air fleet of Belarus is old and needs renovation. It was declared by the deputy chairman of the State Commission on aircraft Vadzim Melnik on May 23 at the meeting with the national assembly deputies on the problem of development of transport system of the country. He said that after introduction of noise level limitations in Europe only TU-154 M and Jak-40 could fly from Belarus. Besides, as said by Melnik, from January 1, 2003 new standards of control devices are put in action, and Belarusian aircrafts would need modernization.

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At the sitting of the teachers’ council principal of the 13th grammar school Volha Charnavusava has demanded to give unsatisfactory mark to the pupil of the 10th form Anton Karasiou. The reason was a phone call from the police, informing that the boy participated in the protest march of the opposition on April 19.

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Alexander Lukashenko reassured intelligentsia that the state will keep upholding the national culture, art and help the talented youth, reports “Interfax”. “Let them continue saying that in the West nobody wants to talk to the president of Belarus. Let them say that. But you are my glory there,” – said he during his meeting with the teachers and students of the Belarusian Academy of music. According to the Belarusian leader, he “spent seven years fighting for the good of intelligentsia. Now you have to fight for me,” – assumes the head of state. He went on to explain that they “got to themselves put all things back to order in their country” and reminded them that they were told to create a“purely Belarusian movie”. “We have to show them that we remember our ancestry and traditions. We’ll do this: sell two tanks and make a movie on this money,” – promised the Belarusian leader.

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Belarusian consumers’ indebtedness for heat and electricity rose from earlier this year almost by $90mln, reaching by May 1 $450mln. According to the press-service of the Belarusian state energy concern, the highest indebtedness - $253mln (or 60%) falls on the agricultural consumers. The Ministry of housing cleared off only 72% of the sum. The organizations, which are financed out of the national budget, also incur serious payment delays.

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