Belarus` repressive new religion law entered into legal force last Saturday (16 November), Keston News Service has learnt. From that date all unregistered religious activity by organised groups will be illegal; all communities with fewer than 20 members will become illegal and will not be able to function; any religious activity in private homes - apart from occasional, small scale meetings - will be illegal; religious communities that do not have a registered umbrella body will no longer be able to invite foreign citizens for religious work or run any religious teaching establishments; and all religious literature will be subject to compulsory prior censorship before it can be imported or distributed.

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“Today Russian leadership may compromise in Cuba, Northern Asia, Caucasian republics and even Ukraine, but Belarus is a boundary which Russia cannot cross. Russia has no right to do it, even despite the pressure of western countries,” – said Alexander Lukashenko during his Monday meeting with the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Gennady Seleznev.

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Alexander Lukashenko strongly criticized Russia mass media, which “distorted the position of the Belarusian nation and leadership on the most crucial issues”. “Everything is so tendentious and is being done in order to incite hatred between our nations. But this is futile and we have enough channels to deliver to each Russian’s knowledge the true policy, conducted in Belarus,” – said Alexander Lukashenko during his Minsk meeting with the Russian State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev.

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The European Union may prohibit entering the EU territory Alexander Lukashenko and a range of other Belarusian state officials. The issue will be raised for consideration at the EU Foreign Ministers’ meeting, due to take place in Brussels next Tuesday. According to the EFE news agency, they have already drawn the list, which will include, apart from the head of state, the Ministers of the Belarusian government and their deputies, chefs of the presidential Administration, state television and some other high-ranking officials.

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Petition with a demand to carry out an investigation into the disappearances of famous politicians and public figures in Belarus has been forwarded to Alexander Lukashenko by the International forum of the Commonwealth of NGOs from the organizations of the democratic countries. Over 100 countries of the world left their signatures under the appeal.

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Visa denials, followed by isolation, are “outdated practices of the Cold War period”, commented on Saturday the Foreign Minister of Russian Igor Ivanov on the visa denial to Alexander Lukashenko by the Czech authorities. The interview was given in the “Zerkalo” TV program.

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The Foreign Ministry of Belarus considers the refusal of the Czech authorities to issue visas to the official Belarusian delegation for engaging in the summit of the Council of Euro-Atlantic Partnership (Prague, 21-22 November, 2002) to be a flagrant infringement on the CEAP agreements on the right of every country to independently define its level of representation at the summit, reads the FM’s statement, disseminated on November 16.

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Russian State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev intends to pay a visit to Minsk on Monday and meet with Alexander Lukashenko, said the chairman of the lower house of the Russian parliament during the Moscow press-conference.

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An action under such name was held on November 17 by the organization “Association of Belarusians Abroad”. Natives of Belarus, who are currently residing in the Czech Republic assembled in central Prague in the Vatslav square with white-red-white flags and banners: “Belarus – to Europe!”, “Belarus to NATO!”, “Stop Russian occupation!”, “No – to the dictatorial regime of Lukashenko!” in order to manifest solidarity with the democratic opposition in Belarus.

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