Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived on Wednesday in Moscow for a two-day visit. As usual, he will discuss with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the issues of economic integration and creation of a union state. However, Kommersant writes, this time the Kremlin is likely to speak with Lukashenko much tougher than before. Moscow has understood that the prospects of a "velvet revolution" in Minsk, instigated and financed from the West, are more than real and will try to explain to the Europe`s last dictator that the only way for him to remain in power is to agree to Belarus` merger into the Russian Federation.

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The ranks of the image-making channels will swell this autumn with the appearance of TVTsentr-Bel [TV Centre-Belarus], the joint offspring of Russia and Belarus, in addition to the propagandistic Russia Today. Nezavisimaya Gazeta has learned that the corresponding agreement on the new channel was signed in Minsk last week by its two founders: Oleg Poptsov, president of the TVTs [TV Centre] television company on the Russian side and Yelena Stozhkova, general director of OOO [limited liability company] Vavilen for Belarus. The founding documents of the new company say that its primary goal is the "mutual integration of Russia and Belarus".

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All participants of the action dedicated to 11th anniversary of Lukashenka’s ruling are free. They were released yesterday evening. Administrative protocols for participation in illegal street action were compiled against two under-aged activists - Aliaksandr Ushko and Aliaksandr Kurbatsky.

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Belarusian authorities are tightening their grip on independent institutions in the wake of popular upheavals that helped unseat governments in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. But the government of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is not just shutting some schools down and harassing others. It`s also spearheading a new campaign to inculcate the nation`s schools and students with a new "Ideology of the Republic of Belarus."

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Anatoly Lebedko can’t complain at the lack of authorities attention. Crossing the border is a special procedure every time so was his last trip to Vilnus. His car was searched twice. And each time a special permission from Minsk was needed for border guards to let him go.

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Some 48 per cent of the Belarusians would vote for the incumbent president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, in the next presidential election, according to a survey conducted by the Gallup Baltic Service between 6 June and 3 July, the Belarusian news agency Belapan reported on 20 July. The poll was held under a programme carried out by the Washington-based International Republican Institute.

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Belarusian pro-democracy forces are getting ready to defend the [2006] presidential election results in the streets, the United Civic Party [UCP] leader, Anatol Lyabedzka, said on 20 July at a conference in Minsk`s Tsentralny district that was to nominate delegates to a national congress of pro-democracy forces. The congress is expected to elect a single presidential candidate from the pro-democracy forces.

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Improving the human rights situation throughout the world is "extremely important to the United States and to President Bush`s administration," says Goli Ameri, an Iranian-American who served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). "Freedom, democracy and human rights all go hand in hand," Ameri told participants during a July 20 Internet chat. "Free and democratic countries do not abuse the rights of their citizens." One of the questions was about situation in Belarus

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According to Independent Newspaper a new TV Channel “TVCenter-Bel” a joint project of Russia and Belarus will appear in autumn 2005. Corresponding agreement has been signed last week in Minsk by the investors: the President of Russian Tv company TVC Oleg Poptsov and the general director of Belarusian Limited liability company Vivalen Elena Stojkova. The main goal of the new company as stated in the documents is to promote mutual integration between Rusiia and Belarus.

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The transit of natural gas through trunk pipelines in Belarus totaled 21.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) in the first half of 2005, up 23.6% from the same period last year, a source in the Statistics Ministry said.

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A meeting of the working group of the Union State of Belarus and Russia (USBR) on migration policy and efforts to curb illegal migration opens here on Thursday. Those present at the meeting are planning to discuss and fix a draft agreement between the governments of Belarus and Russia on people`s freedom of movement and choice of place for stay or residence on the territories of the USBR members, an official in the Belarussian Foreign Ministry`s department for information and public relations has told Itar-Tass.

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The first Russian-Belarussian economic forum will be held in Minsk on September 6-8, 2005, said Vasily Shelodonov, head of the mission of the permanent committee of the Russia-Belarus Union State in Minsk.

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Some 45 per cent of young people in Belarus get information on the country`s political life from their family members, according to a survey conducted by the Gallup Baltic Service between 6 June and 3 July, the Belarusian news agency Belapan reported on 20 July. The poll was held under a programme carried out by the Washington-based International Republican Institute.

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Poverty and contamination combine to form an unhealthy environment for children living near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion of 1986. Though almost two decades have passed since the fatal chemical accident in Ukraine, the air, soil and produce in the neighboring areas remain polluted.

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The 14th Slavic Bazaar arts festival called to enhance the unity between Belarus and Russia ended in the Belarusian city of Vitebsk on the Russian border overnight with a traditional gala concert, fireworks and outdoor fete.

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