The US ambassador in OSCE Stephan Minikes addressed on October 31 the Permanent Council in Vienna over the AMG problem in Belarus. “Belarus` claim that its concerns about the AMG have gone unaddressed ring hollow in the face of the Chair`s constant, determined efforts to forge a resolution and Belarus` refusal to engage in serious discussions,” – said the diplomat. Read below the full transcript of his speech:

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At the meeting of the Consultative Council of opposition political parties it was announced that November 12 would see the parliamentary debates in the Russian State Duma, dedicated to the political disappearances in Belarus.

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Czech Foreign Minister Kiril Svoboda doesn’t rule out a possibility that today the authorities of his country may refuse to grant entry visa to Alexander Lukashenko for his participation in the forthcoming NATO summit. The Minister told the state radio-station “Czech Echo” that the ministers first want to check out information about Anatoly Lebedko’s enforced detention upon his coming out of the US embassy in Minsk. “We believe that we should express our solidarity with those, fighting for the human rights and democracy there. To do so we may deny visas even to the head of state,” – noted Svoboda.

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Alexander Lukashenko demanded from the Belarusian government to oblige Russia to compensate $500mln in losses, which Belarus has allegedly incurred as a result of non-regulation of relations in indirect tax payment sphere.

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On November 5 the Leninsky district police station of Grodno terminated investigation into the on-line version of the closed independent newspaper “Pagonya”, said the inspector from that police department, senior lieutenant Vitaly Stasukevich.

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On Friday November 1 the Minsk city court considered the appeal, filed by the former Belarusian Premier Mikhail Chigir, who was found guilty on July 23 this year of tax-evasion and criminal negligence. However, the court, as foretold by the defendant’s attorneys, left the judicial verdict, passed by the Frunzensky district court, unchanged.

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Alexander Lukashenko called Gasprom’s decision on 50% curtailment of gas supplies to Belarus “Kremlin’s political step”. Lukashenko said this at the Wednesday meeting in the government, dedicated to providing Belarus with energy resources. “Recently, Belarus and myself included went under tremendous pressure. They told me that if I don’t give us the property, they will talk in a different way. They demanded to immediately privatize “Beltransgas” and pass over the stock to the Gasprom. I have no personal property in Belarus. It is our national property, which provides for the national security and our very survival. And so the state objects will be privatized under the Belarusian legislation”.

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Minsk city hall didn’t sanction the Party of communists of Belarus to march on November 7 from the Oktyabrsky square to the central Groky park, where the communists in opposition planned to hold a traditional festive meeting.

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Close relatives of the incarcerated professor from Gomel Yuri Bandazhevsky, sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment for bribery, had an opportunity on November 4 to meet with him in the hard-labor colony of Minsk, where the man is serving his term at the moment.

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Chairman of the OSCE Permanent Council, Portuguese ambassador at OSCE Francisko Seihas da Kosta declared on Tuesday in Vienna that the OSCE intends to continue its operation in Belarus on a normal permanent basis.

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Leader of the SPS faction of the Russian State Duma Boris Nemtsov will file a lawsuit against Alexander Lukashenko for his and Irina Hakamada’s enforced deportation from Belarus on October 23. The SPS leader cannot explain Lukashenko’s behavior, for his party is upholding the unification idea. Nemtsov called Lukashenko “a sly, cynic and sick person, who must be sent to the Serbsky institute” (mental hospital in Moscow).

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The government of the Czech Republic will consider during its Wednesday session an issue of granting entry visa to Alexander Lukashenko, RIA “Novosti” was told by the Czech FM press-secretary Karel Boruvka.

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