In the Senate of the Czech Republic the conference “Belarus – our new neighbor” took place. “The main aim of the Czech Republic is to prevent an appearance of a new “iron curtain”, which could separate the EU countries from other countries”, said in his speech the Czech Senate Speaker Petr Pithart. “We know what an iron curtain is, and we do not want to live now even at the opposite side of it”. The Belarusian opposition was supported also by a former Czech president Vaclav Havel. “Belarus is close to us historically, culturally, geographically, and we understand the type of its problems very well”. Ivonka Survilla, Chairperson of the Belarusian People’s Republic Rada, participated in the conference “Belarus – our new neighbor” as well. As said by her, the Czech Republic is the best ally of Belarus and propagandist of the Belarusian opposition in the international arena, Radio Prague informs.

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Edited by Victor Cole
Vol. 7, No. 11
March 2004

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The United States and the European Union on Friday condemned the worsening situation surrounding human rights and democracy in the ex-Soviet republic of Belarus. A joint mission to the diplomatically-isolated country by EU and US officials said that Belarus`s hardline leader Alexander Lukashenko had ignored commitments to improve democratic freedoms in line with Western standards.

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"The death notice for independent media in Belarus is premature," according to a panel of Belarusian journalists speaking at RFE/RL this week. The journalists -- Vyacheslav Khodosovsky, editor-in-chief of Belorussky Rynok (Belarusian Market), Svetlana Kalinkina, the editor-in-chief of Belorusskoye Delovaya Gazeta (Belarusian Business News) and Zhanna Litvina, founder and chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists -- said that independent media outlets continue to exist in Belarus, in spite of severe government restrictions on the press and media.

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