Belarus` closing doors :: Charter'97 :: News

"I do not know what to do," said the director of a small Belarus textile company. "We, of course, are not state officials. But an order is an order and somehow we`ll have to abide by it." The businessman is worried by Ukaz No. 274. The decree issued earlier this week by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko stipulates those persons authorized to take decisions on sending officials abroad for business trips, and "those persons," states Lukashenko`s press service, "who can be sent on business trips abroad only with the consent of the Head of State".

The textile company director explained to the BBC Russian service why he is worried: "Any insubordination, or even expression of my discontent, endangers our small company with liquidation, the loss of money and time invested, and unpleasant changes to the fate of people working here," he said, not leaving his full name.

Aleksander Lebedko, leader of the United Civic Party, said the move is reminiscent of Soviet times: "When people are in a closed territory, they feel the Belarus system is the best ever invented by humankind," Lebedko told Moscow daily Vremya Novosti. "But on becoming acquainted with life in other countries, they gradually change from being Lukashenko supporters to opponents." Lebedko believes Decree 274 is aimed securing Belarus society even more tightly in the run up to presidential elections in 2006.

In a related move, Belarus companies with tourism licenses are now obliged to show contracts, signed with foreign companies, on the organization of reception of foreign tourism in Belarus. Authorities claim the measures are aimed at promoting domestic tourism and not further controlling the entry of foreigners into the isolated country.

Additionally, on Tuesday, a Belarus court ordered Narodnaya Volya, a leading opposition journal, to pay around €37,000 in damages to Sergei Gaidukevich, a National Council member loyal to Lukashenko, for an article on Iraqi oil quotas he allegedly received from Saddam Hussein. A Belarus bank has been accused of white-washing monies gained illegally via the United Nations oil-for-food scheme.