The leader of the Russian democratic party “Yabloko” Grigory Yavlinsky and the head of the same Belarusian public association Olga Abramova wrote an open letter to Putin, in which they raise concerns over the situation with the Russian electronic media in Belarus, reports “Interfax” agency.

---

On Sunday Minsk will be visited by the Russian president Vladimir Putin, who intends to engage in the session of the Supreme State Council of the Russian-Belarusian union. Putin and his colleague Alexander Lukashenko will discuss the future of integration. “Vremya Novostei” special correspondent in Minsk Natalya Viktorova posed her questions in this regard to the former Speaker of the Belarusian parliament Stanislav Shushkevich, one of the co-authors of the 1991 agreements, which brought about the dissolution of the USSR.

---

Before the meeting of the Supreme State Council, scheduled for January 20, there will be held personal meeting in Minsk between Alexander Lukashenko and Russian president Vladimir Putin, said at the recent briefing deputy head of the FM information department of Belarus Andrei Savinykh. In course of the meeting, he said, the presidents will discuss the union state problems, bilateral economic cooperation, cooperation within the CIS framework and a range of key issues of the world politics.

---

Members of democratic opposition’s electoral camp of the Mogilev region claim that none of their fellowmen was included into the district commissions’ composition. Nominees of the parties were either under various pretexts denied a right to become commission members or simply determined to abstain from nomination, considering it pointless anyway.

---

On January 16 the Central district procuracy of Minsk passed a final decision on the case of Oksana Novikova, charged with slandering Alexander Lukashenko. Now the case files will be forwarded to the central district court. According to the law, the lady may be fined or sentenced to involuntary social labor.

---

Last year the government of Belarus continued to exert pressure on opposition, NGOs, independent mass media outlets and religious minorities, underscored “Human Rights Watch”.
The report of this human rights watchdog reads that the terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2002 distracted the attention of the international community from questionable presidential elections in Belarus, thus enabling Alexander Lukashenko to intensify crackdown on civil society, not fearing international repercussion.

---