On November 3, 1999 the new Belarusian-language radio station for the very first time appeared on air. With time its daily broadcasting increased from one hour to six. “Objectively about reality” – that’s the key principle of the radio station’s approach to the information. Radio Ratsya became the follower of traditions, based by the “Belorusskaya Molodezhnaya” and “Radio 101,2”. The radio station’s listeners said they trust the information they receive from it. Today one may familiarize with their materials at www.racyja.pl. We congratulate our colleagues with the jubilee and wish that they continue to work fruitfully and brightly as usual for the sake of freedom and democracy in our country. Let’s be together and Belarus will be free!

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OSCE secretary general Yan Kubis, who paid these days an official visit to Minsk, shared hopes that his meetings with the Foreign Minister of Belarus Mikhail Khvostov and head of Alexander Lukashenko’s Administration Ural Latypov, would end in concrete negotiations concerning the future cooperation with Belarus as one of the OSCE member-states. He also ruled out a possibility of imposing any sanctions against Belarus. Mandate to hold talks with Belarus was bestowed upon Kubis by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Minister of foreign affairs of Portugal Martinez da Kruz, who declared that the OSCE doesn’t intend to shut its mission in Minsk, but will instead establish the new mandate. As you remember, it is exactly what the Belarusian authorities counted on, when expelling from the country all OSCE AMG diplomats.

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The problem of the curtailed Russian gas supplies to Belarus is purely economic, the press was told on Monday by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko. Belarusian FM’s attempt to “interpret the company’s decision as a purposeful action to exert economic pressure” is, as noted by Yakovenko, absolutely groundless, reports RIA “Novosti” correspondent.

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Responsible secretary of the parliamentary assembly of the Russian-Belarusian "Union" Vladimir Aksenov doesn’t see any violations in Gasprom’s fulfillment of commitments on the natural gas supplies to Belarus, RIA “Novosti” quotes Aksenov as saying during the Monday briefing in Moscow.

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The reason for the curtailment of Russian gas supplies to Belarus lies in the fact that Belarusian debt for this type of fuel amounts to $200mln dollars and there are no concomitant papers, confirming that.

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Belarus is ready to hold open negotiations on the perspectives of her cooperation with OSCE, said at the Monday meeting in Minsk with the OSCE secretary general Yan Kubis, the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Khvostov. The Minister underscored that he’s ready to clarify the position of Belarus in her cooperation with the OSCE and also thanked Kubis for sharing his vision of the problem’s regulation. According to the head of the Belarusian FM, they must first hold constructive talks, targeted at reaching the final result. In his turn, the OSCE secretary general stressed that he was entitled to visit Belarus and hold talks by the acting chairman-in-office. Kubis stressed that the problem, which arose in the bilateral relations, has to be resolved.

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OSCE secretary general Yan Kubis, who paid these days an official visit to Minsk, shared hopes that his meetings with the Foreign Minister of Belarus Mikhail Khvostov and head of Alexander Lukashenko’s Administration Ural Latypov, would end in concrete negotiations concerning the future cooperation with Belarus as one of the OSCE member-states. He also ruled out a possibility of imposing any sanctions against Belarus. Mandate to hold talks with Belarus was bestowed upon Kubis by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Minister of foreign affairs of Portugal Martinez da Kruz, who declared that the OSCE doesn’t intend to shut its mission in Minsk, but will instead establish the new mandate. As you remember, it is exactly what the Belarusian authorities counted on, when expelling from the country all OSCE AMG diplomats.

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On Monday there will happen the first meeting between the Foreign Minister of Belarus Mikhail Khvostov and OSCE secretary general Yan Kubis. NTV reports that ahead of the meeting official Minsk declared that it is ready to consent to the OSCE presence in Belarus, given the AMG mandate gets reviewed. OSCE’s reply to the cause remains unknown.

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Belarusian Foreign Ministry hopes that the UN Security Council, when considering the situation around Iraq, will also take into account the positions of the member-states of the Organization of the Treaty on collective defense. RIA “Novosti” reports with a reference to the FM’s news that the issue will be discussed during the November 5 meeting of the heads of Foreign Ministries of the organization’s member-states in Moscow. Belarus will be represented there by the head of the Foreign Ministry Mikhail Khvostov, who will present the official Belarusian viewpoint.

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Around 600 engaged in the meeting, dedicated to the Ancestors’ Remembrance Day Dzyady, which was held in Minsk on November 2.

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“Gasprom” officially notified Belarus about the necessity to reduce on November 1 gas consumption by 50% due to the termination of planned gas supplies to the country. Belarusian FM, which intervened into the conflict, already called this decision “an exertion of economic pressure on Belarus”. It also reminded that Russia had failed to “compensate annual losses of the Belarusian budget, provoked by the payment of indirect taxes in bilateral trade”.

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