The United States has "witnessed a serious deterioration in respect for OSCE commitments in Belarus" over the past year and calls on the OSCE Office in Minsk (OOM) to work on issues, particularly elections, NGOs, media freedom, and religious freedom, aimed at "correcting deficiencies in the [Belarusian] laws and their implementation," said U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Stephan Minikes. Speaking to the Permanent Council on November 13, Minikes welcomed Ambassador Eberhard Heyken, Head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, and his report on the work of the OSCE Office in Belarus. "Ambassador Heyken has described this assault on civil society and the independent media as systematic,`" Minikes said, adding: "Given the scale of the campaign, that characterization is clearly appropriate."

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Russia is not going to surrender an oil products pipeline to Belarus despite a recent fine Belarus imposed on the pipeline operator, Russian ambassador to Belarus Aleksandr Blokhin has said in an interview to a Belarusian business newspaper. The pipeline is located on Belarusian territory but belongs to Russia under the Bishkek agreement on the division of Soviet property, Blokhin said. Speaking about the privatization of the state-owned gas distribution company Beltranshaz, he pointed out that Russia had never been willing to acquire it at a knock-down price, but insisted on a fair evaluation. The following is the text of Blokhin`s interview with journalist Natallya Hryb, entitled "Do not ask for our money and we won`t ask for yours", published by Belarusian newspaper Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta web site on 10 November; subheadings have been inserted editorially:

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Belarus` arbitrage courts heard 22,032 cases of bankruptcy and economic violations entailing confiscation of property in January-September, up 25% on the year, the chairman of Belarus` Supreme Arbitrage Court Victor Kamenkov told the plenary meeting of the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament late Wednesday.

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