Belarussian authorities do not understand why Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili described the situation in Belarus as tense, the chief of the Foreign Ministry’s press service, Maria Vanshina said, commenting on his interview with the Italian television channel RAINEWS.
International monitoring of election campaigns "has never been objective," Belarussian Central Election Committee secretary Nikolai Lozovik told Interfax on July 21. "International observers are active electoral process players who frequently impose their point of view on others and provoke electoral process participants [to anger]," Lozovik said.
President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus is visiting Moscow. Taking the threat of a "cornflower revolution" in Minsk seriously, the Kremlin will try to explain to Lukashenko that a rapid absorption of Belarus by Russia is the only way for him to retain his position of power. President Vladimir Putin will have to try and make his Belarusian counterpart understand that he cannot hope to retain his position of power much longer without Russia`s assistance. The Russian authorities mean business, and the choice they are about to propose to Lukashenko is brutally simple: rapid unification with Russia, or a "color revolution" in Belarus.
On July 22, UCP passed literature for the new library of Ivatsevichi Correctional Colony #22. Is it the colony where political prisoner Valeri Levonevski serves his term – he was sentenced on September 7, 2004 to two years of deprivation of freedom for public insult of Alexander Lukashenko. It was Valeri Levonevski who initiated the creation of library at the colony #22.
According to Valeri Levonevskij’ son Vladimir, this is not the first time someone passes books to the colony. Recently, the administration of the institution even provided a room for the library.
Last night table and doors of Association of Belarusian language were spoiled with black paint and nazi leaflets. Signature NBP (National-Bolshevik Party) and sickle and hummer was made near the entrance.
Belarus has accused a Polish-based NGO of spying and banned it from operating in the country. Belarus television reported yesterday that the Foreign Ministry had banned the Dialogue European Fund. The nongovernmental organization worked to promote cooperation between the scientists of Central and Eastern Europe. Jerzy Jaskiernia, chairman of the Polish parliament`s foreign relations committee, expressed dismay at the move.
The Belarusian Foreign Minister announced in a declaration Friday that Belarus will fully respond to the expulsion of its diplomats from Poland. The declaration was a response to the Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld`s announcement that "within the next few days a Belarusian diplomat will be expelled".
The pro-government Belarusian media blame Poland and the Union of Poles in Belarus for the on-going diplomatic dispute between Warsaw and Minsk. The biggest government daily Sovietskaya Bialorusia prints a letter from a Pole who claims that the Union should serve the Belarusian state and the nation.
Over the last decade, the Internet has increasingly developed into a rich source of information about all aspects of Central Asia, especially for people without physical access to the region, but also to varying degrees for the inhabitants of the five former Soviet Central Asian republics. In addition to the strong web presence maintained by numerous non-governmental organizations and international agencies working in the region, such as Radio Free Europe’s Central Asia service, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the UN, and the U.S.-based democracy and civil society support organization IFES, the Internet has increasing provided an outlet for non-official and opposition points of view. This has been particularly important as regimes, even the more liberal such as that of Kyrgyzstan`s ex-president Askar Akaev, have sought to extend their control over the media and suppress dissenting voices: unlike other forms of media, the Internet remains virtually impossible to regulate, short of directly limiting physical access.
Cuban President Fidel Castro will be succeeded by his brother Raol, said Cuban Ambassador to Belarus Felix Leon Carballo. According to the Cuban Constitution, "if something happens to the Cuban State Council chairman, his position will be occupied by his first deputy, " he said. "In the current situation, the first deputy is Comrade Raol Castro," he said.
Poland is dispatching another Belarusian diplomat, said Polish Minister of foreign affairs Adam Rotfeld on July 22. He said that necessary procedure have been started already. Rotfeld didn’t say the name of the diplomat. But he said that probably they are not going to dispatch consul because it would make services for Belarusian citizens in Poland more difficult.
The criminal case against Fyodar Ivanow, former chairman of the State Aviation Committee, has been referred to the Supreme Court of Belarus, the press centre of the Belarusian Prosecutor`s Office reported.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka is going to pay close attention to environment protection issues. Official media outlets reported that he said this on 22 July during a conference on fauna and flora protection. The president said that "there was real banditry" in the Belarusian forests and at water bodies 10 years ago. Moreover, officials were the most notorious lawbreakers but practically nobody was brought to account for this, he said. "I will not say that the situation has been reversed now and that nobody takes guns in violation of the law and goes to the forest or throws an electric fishing rod in a water body," Lukashenka said. He warned representatives of the state inspection under the president for flora and fauna protection that they will have to bear "the most serious responsibility" for this.
On July 19th, 2005, the Defense Attache Office, United States Embassy Minsk, on behalf of the United States European Command (USEUCOM), transferred a Ford Transit 12 pax passenger van worth $ 5,000 to the Turov Regional Hospital. This is the second excess property shipment donated to the Turov Regional Hospital No 1 by USEUCOM.
U.S. military experts will conduct a reconnaissance flight over Russia and Belarus July 27-28 in accordance with the Open Skies Treaty, a senior official at the Russian defense ministry told RIA Novosti.
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