The third anniversary of Zubr resistance movement was mark by news energetic actions. Several national white-red-white flags appeared in Baranavichy over the main streets of the city. They were unfurled on wires between nine-storey buildings in the Prytytsky and Charnyshewsky streets.

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Jakov Gutman, president of the World Association of Belarusan Jewry went on hunger strike as a protest against the policy of creeping state anti-Semitism, informs human rights center “Viasna”.

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An open congress of the European Parliament delegation on cooperation with Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova took place in Strasbourg. The situation in Belarus was discussed there. The head of the delegation Jan Wiersma in his interview to Radio Svaboda commented on the results of the congress and said that the visit of the Parliamentary Troika in Minsk planned for the end of January had been cancelled.

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The talks between Russia and Belarus on gas issues “are plodding ahead with difficulties”, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told reporters on Friday, commenting on a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Sidorsky in an interval between talks.

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The deadline for concluding an agreement on the introduction of the Russian ruble in Belarus as the uniform payment unit will expire in February, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told Interfax on Friday ahead of his talks with Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky.

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The International Monetary Fund does not respond to the statements of government officials, especially anonymous ones, but can air its own attitude towards the economic circumstances in Belarus. It was the answer of the official representative of the fund Thomas Dawson to the request of the ITAR-TASS to comment on the opinion of a high-ranking representative of the US State Department that “there is a number of difficulties in Belarus that could cause an acute economical crisis”. In order to avoid the crisis, according to the American official, Minsk should reduce state control over the economy.

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