This statement has been made in the interview to the today’s Austrian newspaper «Die Presse» by Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, meaning Belarus and its leadership. As said by the Latvian President, everyone who is trying to criticize the regime of Lukashenka in any way is facing harsh repression. The Belarusian state brings pressure on the civil society or takes control over the mass media.
“The aim of the high rate of growth providing in the authoritarian regimes is trivial: one should simply order to local State Statistics Committee. When Stalin changed the leadership of the Central Statistics Department in 1926, the problems with rate of growth disappeared completely and forever,” told the former prime minister of Russia Egor Gaidar answering to the question of the British radio station “BBC”, in which way Belarus, having a non-reformed, half-socialistic economy, manages to keep growth rate high.
The head of the civil initiative “We Remember” Iryna Krasouskaya condemned the position of the Austrian Internal Ministry, which official delegation had a meeting with the Interior Affairs Minister of Belarus Uladzimir Navumau (Vladimir Naumov). “He can only teach how to set up death squads,” believes the wife of the disappeared oppositionist Iryna Krasouskaya.
Hrodna Leninski borough housing exploitation service sued to Hrodna Regional Economic Court with the request to evict four public organizations, including the local branch of Belarusian People’s Frond “Adradzhenne” from the building in Karl Marx Street, 11. The trial was appointed on 8 February.
In the evening of 24 January the TV channel Euronews disappeared from the cable and ether non-state TV nets. It was replaced with Belarusian "Stalichnaye Telebachanne" ("Capital TV").
Eberhard Heyken, head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, visited Gomel on Tuesday to meet with the top officials of the local city and regional governments. Aleksandr Yakobson, chairman of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee, informed the diplomat about the region’s social and economic development and a consistent economic growth reported in the last few years, the regional government’s press office told BelaPAN. The official also expressed concern over what he described as Europe’s waning interest in the work to alleviate the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, urging Dr. Heyken to attend to the problems that the affected areas in the region are facing.
In his address to President Viktor Yushchenko the activist of the United Civil Party from Zhodzina Alyaksandar Vauchanin claims that threat to his health and life exists on the part of the Belarusian authorities and special services. On January 25 he submitted an appeal top the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus. He wrote: “Dear Mister Presdeint! I ask you to grant me a political asylum in your country in connection with the threat of bodily harm by authorities and the special services”.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called the prospects of relations between Kyiv and Minsk ‘difficult’. On Tuesday at the press conference in the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg, Yushchenko admitted that it is difficult for him to answer the question about the prospects of relations with Belarus, as they are plagued by the current regime in Minsk. At the same time he underlined that the political controversy should not impede establishment of neighbourly relations. “We can stand on opposite sides of political barricades, but we should not forget that we are neighbours”, told the head of Ukraine.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko vowed Jan. 25 to retain tight control over the KGB, saying the widely feared security agency should do more to monitor political dissent in comments that caused alarm from rights groups.
Cypriot MP Christos Pourgourides plans to demand harsher sanctions against the Belarusian authorities at a January 26 meeting of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.
On April 28, 2004, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), after hearing reports on disappearances and media harassment in Belarus, adopted a resolution and recommendations for the Committee of Ministers, currently chaired by Polish Foreign Minister Daniel Rotfeld, which called for harsh sanctions against Aleksandr Lukashenko`s regime.
A delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA)`s ad hoc Working Group on Belarus, led by the group`s head, Uta Zapf, is scheduled to be on a visit to Minsk from February 1 through 3. As Paul le Gendre, the OSCE PA’s program officer told BelaPAN on Tuesday, the group will continue a discussion about the political situation in Belarus. The delegation plans to meet with government officials, members of the National Assembly, and representatives of civil society. An objective is to study the new composition of the Belarusian legislature.
Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda told reporters in Prague on January 24 that the accusation brought by Belarus against Czech diplomat Pavel Krivohlavy was baseless, and that the diplomat had not broken Belarusian laws, which was cited as the reason for his expulsion.
The European Union (EU)`s policy regarding its relations with Belarus should include cooperation in all spheres, noted participants at a colloquium on "European Policy towards Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine: the Role of Organized Civil Society," held in Brussels on January 20.
On January 25 in Hrodna the meeting of the relatives of the political prisoners Valery Levaneuski and Alyaksandar Vasilyeu with US Ambassador to Belarus George Krol. At the meeting a number of issues related to political repressions in Belarus, illegal actions of the KGB and police, numerous violations of the law by office-holders of the prosecutor’s office and courts were discussed. George Krol was worried by the fact that the family of Valery Levaneuski had not been receiving letters from him for more than a month. He wished the relatives of the political prisoners courage and said that the US Embassy would do everything possible for the release of the political prisoners by the government of Belarus.
The diplomatic mission will be opened after the works on redecoration of the premises are over. Until then the Belarusian citizens will have to go to Moscow or to pay travel agencies to get an Israeli visa. “Now we are looking for a possibility to start issuing visas before the opening of the embassy in Minsk, as we are aware how important it is for the Belarusian people,” Zeev Ben Arie said.
OAO Mozyr Oil Refinery did not supply oil products to Russia in January, company Deputy General Director Sergei Solodovnikov told journalists. Daily gasoline production amounts to over 7,000 tonnes, and as a result the refinery`s storage facilities are overloaded, he said. Solodovnikov said that this situation has arisen because a mechanism has not yet been established for monitoring the payment of VAT by our counterparties and confirming the subsequent payment for the Belarusian side. "This is an inappropriate risk," he said. However, he said that from Monday the situation might change," as the Belarusian government will reach a decision, which will set down the actions of all interested departments in the country." Solodovnikov also said that the company has problems with exporting oil products outside the CIS also. He said that from January 5, 2005, due to bad weather in the Baltic, exports of oil products with Western and Eastern Europe were disrupted.
Belarusian officials on Tuesday attempted to dispel mounting fears that a new procedure of collecting value-added tax may hit trade with Russia and lead to the restoration of customs controls at the shared border. Vasily Dolgolyov, Belarus’ prime minister/presidential representative to Russia, described the absence of customs controls at the border as one of the major achievements of the integration process, which he said creates favorable conditions for bilateral trade. “We are projecting an ambitious volume of trade with Russia this year, although we realize that taxes will be deducted from it,” the official told reporters in Moscow on January 25. “Not only do we want to make up for this decline but we also plan to achieve a growth of 10-11 percent,” the press office of the Belarusian embassy in Russia quoted him as saying.
The medical treatment and recuperation of children resident in Chernobyl-affected areas has been inefficient, Vladimir Tsalko, head of the Chernobyl Committee under the Belarusian Council of Ministers, said at the committee’s board last week. According to him, only 40 percent of the Belarusian children are treated at children’s health establishments, while the rest are sent to ill-fitted and poorly equipped facilities.
Morris Richard Hennessy, head of Hennessy Cognac, on Tuesday arrived in Minsk on a three-day visit at the invitation of Midvest, the company’s Belarusian dealer. As a source with Midvest told BelaPAN, the executive is expected to attend a party to advertise a new brand, meet with reporters and make a tour of Minsk and the Minsk region.
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