The visas of the foreign employees of the OSCE office in Minsk were prolonged, said the Voce-Head of the OSCE mission Vagran Abadzhan to the Charter press-centre. According to his words, the information concerning the possibility of refusal to prolong the visas for the OSCE employees spread by Mass Media is not valid. The Vice-Head of the office also remarked that this question was not worth so much attention. The belarusian visas for the mission collaborators were prolonged to 1, January, 2005 - the date until which the OSCE mandate is prolonged.

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Along with the municipal organizations of the United Civil Party, Liberal-Democratic Party, Belarusian Social-Democratic Gramada and Belarusian Social-Democratic Party (Narodnaya Gramada), the order to vacate the rented premises was received by the non-governmental organization “Self’government and Society”. Public and party activists consider the deprivation of the offices to be caused by the authorities’ preparation for the next parliamentary election.

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Ukrainian journalist Mykhaylo Podolyak has said that his deportation from Belarus was illegal and was carried out in suspicious haste. In a newspaper interview, Podolyak expressed scepticism about Belarusian justice, but said he would appeal against his expulsion anyway. Podolyak has been writing for an opposition newspaper, and the KGB told him that was being expelled as a threat to national security. He denied any wrongdoing and hinted that his deportation might have been prompted by another controversial article about the Belarusian authorities being prepared for publication in the paper he worked for. The following is the text of the interview Podolyak gave to Alyaksandr Barnatovich entitled "Time chose him" and published in the Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta on 25 June; subheadings inserted editorially:

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3 hundred 922 people participated in the alternative election held by the United Civil Party (the UCP) activists in Grodna, Vitsebsk and Vaukavysk. They were proposed to tell their opinion concerning the possibility of electing Aliaxandar Lukashenka for the post of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

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Four “Zubr” activists were detained yesterday in Belarusan capial. Paval Yuhnevich, Raman Kazakevich, Katsyaryna Smirnova and Luba Kuchinskaya were arrested for distributing “Zubr” newspapers in different parts of the town. Protocols for violating article 172 of Administrative code (Violation of legislation about media) were drawn. All four young people were released soon.

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A special resolution of the German Bundestag social-democratic fraction, which was induced by the visit of a friend of the Bundestag and an OSCE parliamentarian Uta Zapf to Minsk, was spread by the German Mass Media channels. It may be seen from the document that the contemporary political situation in Belarus is rather much-questioned. The pressure on the opposition, independent Mass Media, non-governmental organizations has grown harder recently, informed the Radio Svoboda.

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An international scandal can break out in Belarus in the nearest time. The term of the Belarusian visas of the foreign collaborators of the OSCE in Minsk expires on 30, June. Though the mandate for the work of the office was coordinated with official Minsk and is valid till the end of the month, there is nobody to work with it – the collaborators whose visa terms are expired are to leave the country.

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