The meeting of the two incumbent presidents is scheduled for August 13-14 in Moscow, SOYUZ-INFO was told in the integration structures of the “union state”. At the moment they are busy preparing Lukashenko’s visit to the Russian capital; the sides are coordinating positions and items, to be discussed during the meeting. This will be the first personal encounter between Putin and Lukashenko since the tensions between the countries escalated in summer.

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63% of Minsk residents deem that the authorities will launch a plebiscite on the prolongation of Alexander Lukashenko’s tenure in office, reads the recent sociological poll, carried out late in July by the “Zerkalo” company of BelaPAN. 24% of them are convinced that such an event will definitely see light. Only 13% of out 500 respondents say it won’t happen, while 5% claim that there would surely be no referendum.

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Flyers with such heading were distributed by the ZUBR activists at the marketplaces of Minsk and Borisov. The leaflets contained data about the action in support of the entrepreneurs rights, held in Minsk on July 29. It also reads about the co-chairman of the “Private initiative” Leonid Malakhov, detained at the action and sentenced to 10 days of arrest for running it.

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Novopolotsk oil processing company “Naftan” addressed the economic court of the Vitebsk region with a lawsuit against 19 executive committees, which acted as guarantors when they signed agreements on the supply of fuel oil for the sowing campaign. Every district has 500mln rubles of debt, which they haven’t cleared off yet. Given the situation doesn’t change soon, the executive committee’s property can be subject to confiscation.

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Such a debt has been accumulated in Belarus by July 31, reported head of the social-economic department of the Federation of trade unions of Belarus (FTU) Sergei Sorokin. According to him, the greatest indebtedness falls on the agricultural companies – 48bln129mln rubles. In industry the figure constitutes 6bln56mln rubles, reports BelaPAN.

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(Washington) - United States Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) is "shocked, but not surprised" that Alexander Lukashenka`s government demolished a newly constructed church building on August 1st while parishioners were preparing for its solemn consecration.

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Bundestag deputy, consultant to the Council of Europe for Belarusian affairs Wolfgang Berendt deems that repressions against free media, currently observed in Belarus, are an ordinary attempt of the regime to threaten not only the independent journalists but also all Belarusians, speaking critically of Lukashenko’s policy.

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Head of the Ministry of information of Belarus Mikhail Podgainy stated his intention to “use personal leverages of influencing the editors of the non-state newspapers in order to bring to order the country’s information market,” – the Minister said that in his interview to the “Belorusskaya Gazeta”, published on Monday. Read below the full text of the scandalous interview.

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Three Belarusian citizens addressed the Ukrainian government with a request to provide them with a political shelter. Vladimir Buhanov, Svyatoslav Shapovalov and Sergei Konev claim that they are persecuted for their disagreement with the regime. In particular, the Belarusian oppositionists said that they had been many times summoned to the law-enforcement bodies, where they had been beaten. Representatives of the Belarusian embassy in Kiev declined to comment on the situation, only noting that the three aren’t political or public figures at home, reports RBK.

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On August 6 Leonid Malakhov (politician, entrepreneur, chairman of the “Private initiative”), turned 37. On his birthday eve the man was in the Okrestina jail, where he got for organizing an action in defense of entrepreneurs.

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Belarusian Foreign Ministry accused the US ambassador in Belarus Michael Kozak of “groundless aspirations” to transform the dispute around McDonald’s into a conflict with foreign investors. Commenting on the situation, head of the US diplomatic agency said in an interview to the American Associated Press that this is one of the many occurrences when the Belarusian authorities infringe on their agreements with the foreign investors. At the same time, he underscored that “investors must bear in mind that it is unsafe to invest their capitals in this country”.

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