American economy will feel negative consequences of war in Iraq soon. Aliaksandr Lukashenka expressed this opinion today in interview to chief-editor of newspaper “Russian America” Arkady Mar. “America is steel printing money and pays for war with it. But soon it will strike. You can’t cover so huge sum with printing”, -- said head of Belarusian state. According to Mar deficit of US budget is about USD 1 trillion.
Activists of an unregistered opposition youth group called Malady Front on Monday were expected to make traditional visits to the Minsk-based embassies of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, the UK and the United States to mark Valentine’s Day.
Swedish minister of foreign affairs Leila Fraivalds urged Swedish and European politicians to continue isolation policy according to Belarus and more actively support democratic forces in Belarus. According to Mrs Fraivalds Belarusian people have right on place in European community.
Two thousand people took part in the meeting of protest in Russian Kaliningrad, -- “Regnum” informs. Representatives of almost all of parties and movements – CPRF, VCPB, NBP, “Yabloko”, “Rodina” and RNU gathered near monument “Motherland”. Pensioners keep posters with slogans “Putin, Russia is not Chechnya!”, “Officials are freaks!” At the end of meeting executive secretary of regional department of Communist party of Russian Federation Igor Revin urged participants to support initiative of Putin’s resignation. Also communists offered to elect Aliaksandr Lukashenka as a new president of Russia.
The Supreme Court of Belarus on February 11 upheld an official warning issued by the Ministry of Justice to the Independent Institute for Social, Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS). The warning was issued on November 24 after the pollster failed to submit its questionnaire forms to the justice ministry.
Human Rights Center “Viasna” states that in January 2005 new dangerous tendencies started to manifest in Belarus. In January the new edition of the law “About the internal levy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus” came into force. This edition contains certain amendments that rudely violate the right to life. According to the new norms, the internal levy can use their equipment and arms on presidential order. The phrase “and in other cases, defined by President of the Republic of Belarus” stands after every article where the cases in which the equipment and the weapons could be used. The previous edition of the law strictly limited the use of the equipment. The new edition doesn’t explain how the president will define “other cases” and give orders about the use of the equipment. This edition of the law is evidently directed against participants of opposition actions.
The Soim (Council) of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), at its Saturday’s meeting, put forward Aleksandr Milinkevich, a Grodno-based opposition activist who has no party affiliation, as potential candidate in the next presidential election.
Opposition political parties are bracing for tough punishment from the justice ministry as they missed the February 1 deadline for relocating their cells from residential to office buildings.
Individual entrepreneurs of Belarus declared the nationwide warning strike against the enforcement of the new agreement between Russia and Belarus about the principles of indirect taxation during export and import of goods, work and services. The agreement obliges all subjects of the economy, including individual entrepreneurs to pay 18% VAT, whereas according to presidential decree #4 their activity was exempt from VAT and was subject only to single tax.
A number of Western-leaning opposition parties and non-governmental organizations have thrown their support behind some 20,000 market vendors who staged a nationwide token strike earlier this week to demand that the government exempt them from an 18-percent value-added tax on goods imported from Russia.
“The nation needs several astonishing victories which would be known to the world, and better in this century…”. It is a quotation from the novel “Day of Conquered” by the well-known Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Yavorivskyi which was published in the 13th number of Dziejaslou magazine together with the letters of Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkevich and the poetess Larysa Heniyush which are generally unfamiliar to broad public. However, now there’s a huge obstacle to these materials – bookstores refused to accept the independent magazine though they used to sell it before.
Unable to find large conference halls in Minsk, opposition forces may select Polotsk in northern Belarus as a venue for the celebration of the 87th anniversary of the short-lived Belarusian National Republic.
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, paying a visit to Belarus, has called the attention of Belarussian lawmakers to the non-conformity of some clauses in the national media legislature to democratic standards.
Aleksandr Yaroshuk, leader of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU), has left for Budapest to attend a February 14-18 regional conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
American millionaire George Soros said in his interview to Austrian “Die Presse” that autocrats like Lukashenka can’t but afraid of him and his foundation. Especially in connection with recent events in Serbia Georgia and Ukraine where Soros was supporting democratic movements. “It was not occasionally that Lukashenka drove me out from Belarus. Karymov did the same in Uzbekistan. The reason is that repressive regimes of this countries are afraid of democratic revolutions. But this revolutions happen not because our foundation wants it but because citizens of this countries can’t stand this regimes anymore,” – said Soros. Events in Ukraine makes regimes of other countries nervous. It makes Lukashenka and Putin nervous, -- Soros believes. Radio “Liberty” informes.
Russia`s Gazprom plans to complete the construction of gas compression stations at the Belarusian section of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline this year, Gazprom said in a statement Friday. Gazprom`s delegation headed by deputy chairman Alexander Ananenkov visited Belarus this week to assess the construction works on four compression units. A 575-km pipeline and one of the five compression stations are already used to transit Gazprom`s gas via Belarus. Once the compression units are completed, the Yamal-Europe pipeline will be used to export projected 33-bil cu m/year of Russian gas to European markets.
The Minsk police have launched a criminal investigation against a Bulgarian national who broke into the Belarusian foreign ministry’s official website, the interior ministry said on Friday.
Major-General Ivan Dyrman, Deputy Defense Minister for Armament, made this statement. He noted that scrapping centers in Dobrush (the Gomel region) and Gorodok (the Vitebsk region) have already scrapped 2,400 tons of ammunition. The centers process around 30,000 shells a year. The enterprises will soon start working in two and three shifts.
Colonel Stanislav Krasovskii, commander of the 377th anti-aircraft regiment armed with the S-200 complexes made this statement. According to him, "this complex is unique because it can intercept targets regardless of electronic noise, the S-200 can shoot down a transport plane at a distance up to 250 kilometers. However, Stanislav Krasovsky pointed out that the Army lacks specialists experienced in using C-200 complexes; he said that his regiment has organized retraining of young officers.
In 2005 Russia and Belarus will sign an agreement on the creation of a common regional air defense system, Oleg Panferov, Commander of the Belarussian Air Force and Air Defense Forces, told journalists on Thursday.
Dear Colleagues. Remember, please, you are expected to refer to the Charter`97 Press Center when using the site materials. News export , javascript-informer
, javascript-informer
