On Wednesday the Russian State Duma declined to support the leader of the SPS faction Boris Nemtsov, banished from Belarus on October 23. The house of representatives turned down the SPS’s draft statement “On official Belarus’ treatment of Russian nationals – deputies of the Russian State Duma”.

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The visa application procedure concerning Alexander Lukashenko’s desire to visit NATO’s summit in the Czech Republic isn’t limited by any concrete date, “Mediafact” was told by the Czech charge-d’affaires in Belarus Ales Foitek. The diplomat explained that under the law#1326 of 1990 the decision to issue Czech visa to Lukashenko may take 30 days. “Anyway, there’s still time left,” – noted the head of the diplomatic mission.

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On November 13-17 Belarus will be visited by the delegation of the National Petroleum Company of Libya. The main goal of the visit, reports the press-center of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, is to define the main directions of the Belarusian-Libyan cooperation in oil chemistry sphere. In course of the visit the Libyan delegation will familiarize itself with the possibilities of the companies and organizations of Belarus, specializing in excavation and procession of oil and gas.

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Belarus took in 2002 one of the last spots among 156 countries of the globe in the level of economic freedom. The last ten places include, apart from Belarus, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The lowest score was given to North Korea, which comes bottom of the list. Kazakhstan is ranked 122nd, Ukraine – 133rd, Russia – 136th. The index is annually updated by the Heritage Foundation organization and the Wall Street Journal newspaper.

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Belarus’ official representatives signed in Moscow contracts with the “Itera” company on purchasing 1bln320mln cubic meters of gas, “Interfax” was told by the “Itera’s” press-secretary Nikolai Semenenko. He said that the contracts will be pending in course of November-December this year. The company’s representative didn’t specify at what price Belarus would acquire gas from “Itera”. Meantime, the International Gas Corporation’s president Igor Makarov told “Interfax” that “Itera” offers Belarus to purchase gas at around $40 for a thousand cubic meters. Last Monday Moscow hosted a meeting between the Russian Prime-Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and the Belarusian premier Gennady Novitsky, during which they negotiated on gas supplies issue.

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Czech president Vatslav Havel isn’t going to meet with Alexander Lukashenko even if the man manages to obtain entry visa to his country, said the press-secretary of the Czech president Ladislav Spacek: “Vatslav Havel is known for being an opponent to the totalitarian regimes. He numerously criticized the regime of Belarus, met with the representatives of the Belarusian opposition and openly expressed solidarity with those, who struggle against Lukashenko”.

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USA spoke against Alexander Lukashenko’s coming to NATO’s summit in Prague on November 21-22 this year, reported the Czech news agency ChTK. RIA “Novosti” claims that during the Tuesday evening TV link-up from Washington, assistant to the deputy Secretary of State Robert Bradtke stated that “Alexander Lukashenko must not show up in Prague” and that “his government’s conduct doesn’t correspond to the principles of the Council of the Euro-Atlantic partnership”.

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United States Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) issued on November 12 in Washington the following statement on Belarus to the United States House of Representatives:

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Minsk authorities prohibited the street action “For independence”, which was due to take place on November 17. The formal reason for the prohibition was the wrong filling out of the application for the event. However, the organizers claim that regardless of the official decision the rally and meeting in central Minsk will anyway be held on Sunday.

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“The U.S. Government deplores the recent actions of the Belarus KGB against United Civil Party leader and former Supreme Soviet member Anatoly Lebedko, in which the KGB whisked him away after his meeting with U.S. Embassy officials and took him to KGB headquarters,” reads the Nov. 12 statement, released by the US embassy in Minsk. “These actions constitute politically-motivated persecution, and are unacceptable in democratic countries. We will be monitoring the KGB’s conduct toward Mr. Lebedko closely.

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Yesterday there turned one year since the shutdown of the independent newspaper “Pagonya”. On November 12, 2001 the judge of the Supreme Economic Court Vasily Zhandarov ruled to halt the newspaper’s activities. It is symbolic that on these very days the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Nikolai Markevich, who’s serving his term in Osipovichi, was given five days of rest and traveled to Grodno “for his good conduct”. Ahead of the sad date Markevich agreed to answer Radio Ratsya’s questions.

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On November 12 the Oktyabrsky district court of Minsk resumed hearings of a 100mln rubles lawsuit, instituted against the “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” and personally journalist Sergei Satsuk. The plaintiff in the case is the former banker Pavel Dik, who claims that one of the Satsuk’s articles “contains data, which does not correspond to reality and humiliates his honor, dignity and business reputation”. Yesterday the court received the materials of examination into the activities of the Belarusian Birzhevy Bank, conducted by the Committee for state control, which strongly reinforced the journalists’ positions. The next court’s session was put off till an indefinite period of time.

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