Minsk authorities unexpectedly changed their mind and allowed opposition to hold on November 17 a street rally “For independence”. However, the action’s organizers haven’t yet reached consent concerning the route of the rally. Young oppositionists claim that they will all the same lead the procession towards the Opera Theatre.

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Czech authorities ruled to deny entry visa to Alexander Lukashenko for his participation in NATO’s summit in Prague, RIA “Novosti” quotes Czech Vice-Premier, Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda as saying this on Friday. Speaking at the emergency press-conference, he noted that Prague passed such a decision after time-consuming consultations with NATO’s partners. According to the Minister, “these consultations took so long a time” for Prague was weighing on the consequences of such a decision’s passage.

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Agreements between Belarus and OSCE may significantly change, owing to the NATO Council’s decision on the undesirability of allowing the Belarusian delegation to engage in the summit of the Council of the Euro-Atlantic partnership, said at the Thursday press-conference in Minsk the Minister of foreign affairs of Belarus Mikhail Khvostov.

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The problem of transporting Russian nationals from the Kaliningrad enclave to the continental Russia “isn’t resolved in an adequate way”, “Mediafact” quotes the Belarusian Foreign Minister Mikhail Khvostov as saying on Thursday, when answering journalists’ questions. Khvostov is convinced that in order to solve the problem they need the assistance of Belarus, which is a “crucial transit country”. Moreover, the Minister assumes that before Russia reaches an accord on readmission with the EU (return of the illegal migrants) it should first sign it with Belarus.

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Representative of the Moscow bureau of the International Labor Organization, headquartered in Geneva, Sten Toft Petersen arrived in Minsk with a three-day visit. The visit will take place within the framework of the ILO’s project on the protection of workers’ rights, democracy development and economic reforms, which is being carried out in Belarus since February this year, reports BelaPAN. Petersen will meet with the members of versatile country’s trade unionist associations, and on November 15 – with the chairman of the Federation of trade unions of Belarus Leonid Kozik.

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Conference “Axis of Evil: Belarus - the Missing Link” started yesterday in Washington DC. The conference was opened by Sam Gejdenson, former US congressman, an author of many draft laws on Belarus. Rep. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission delivered his speech on the disastrous human rights situation in Belarus. The final report was read out by the US senator, republican John McCain. The floors were also given to the US ambassador in Belarus Michael Kozak, former head of the OSCE AMG in Minsk Hans-Georg Wieck, Charter’97 international coordinator Andrei Sannikov, Radio “Svoboda” director Tom Dine and others.

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