As Russian news agency Interfax informed yesterday evening, the KGB of Belarus has seized a huge sum of money intended for Belarusian opposition. As said by the chairman of the KGB of Belarus, Leanid Yeryn (Leonid Erin), the matter concerns 100 thousands US dollars. “We are investigating now, who has been transporting this sum,” underscored the KGB head. He emphasized that “the sum could be even bigger”. As said by the KGB head, the smugglers were not detained.

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On April 1 in Kyiv consultations of the coordinator of the European coalition “Free Belarus” Andrei Sannikov and chairman of the Popular Movement (Narodny Rukh) of Ukraine, one of the leaders of the bloc “Our Ukraine” Boris Tarasyuk, took place. The political situations in Belarus and Ukraine were discussed, the goals of the democratic forces at the imminent elections in the two countries. Besides, the coordination of the democratic forces’ activities in the interaction with the European Union, possibilities of joint initiatives and projects in the European line were discussed. The understanding on concrete forms of cooperation of Ukrainian and Belarusian democrats has been reached.

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The European Union`s relations with Belarus, which are currently suffering from numerous problems, "must become immaculate" after May 1, 2004, French Ambassador to Belarus Stephane Chmelewsky told Interfax on Thursday. "The EU expects Belarus to behave in a way that will not shock public opinion in Europe," he said.

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The Embassy of the United States of America expresses alarm and deep concern about recent actions taken by some Belarusian authorities against members of Belarusian civil and political society.

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Belarusian-language children’s magazine “Byarozka” ends it existence since the beginning of April. By the order of the Ministry of Education the employees of the editorial office were dismissed, and the legal rights for the magazine publication belong to the “Nastawnitskaya Hazeta” (Teachers Newspaper) now. According to the official version, this is made in order to save state budget funds, however the editorial staff is sure that the so-called reorganization was made for ideological reasons.

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Representatives of the People’s Coalition Five plus have made a statement urging the Belarusian authorities to stop pressure on political parties and public associations. As said by the leaders of a number of Belarusian political parties, the authorities at the moment deliberately obstruct their activities. For instance, in recent times institutions of justice while registering branches of political parties, which are not juridical persons, demand to submit a legal address. Moreover, on these grounds the attempts are made to strike off the register the organizational units which have been registered before, and that makes participation of the parties in the election impossible, and in the future is to cause liquidation of these parties.

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