Today in Warsaw the head of the Union of Poles in Belarus Andzelika Borys, who is not recognized by Belarusian authorities, met with Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka.
Today Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka is to meet Andzelika Borys, who was elected chairperson of the Union of Poles in Belarus in March, PAHONYA informs with the reference to the Polish internet-source onet.pl.
On September 6 Andzelika Borys, who in March was elected a chairman of the Union of Poles in Belarus at the congress of the UPB which is not accepted by the authorities, and vice-speaker of Polish Sejm, one of the main candidates for the presidential position Donald Tusk, had a meeting in Warsaw with the ambassadors of the EU countries.
A famous American politician, former US President Bill Clinton arrived yesterday evening to Almaty. He thanks President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev for collaboration, which had been carried out by them for nuclear disarmament. “It was a hard decision, as it also brought about decrease of nuclear capacity in Ukraine and Belarus, and has made this part of the world peaceful. Taking in consideration that the new wave of terrorism has started, we understand that terrorists have fewer and fewer chances to get nuclear weapons. Only now we come to realize what a wise decision it was,” Bill Clinton said.
Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko had a meeting with Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the current speaker of the Sejm (lower chamber of the Polish parliament), “Delovaya Nedelya” informs. During the meeting a wide range of issues of Polish-Belarusian bilateral relations was discussed. The sides noted a very high level of relations between Poland and Ukraine, and expressed a wish to increase the tempo of their development. At the meeting the joint initiatives in the context of Ukrainian-Polish-Belarusian relations were discussed, and the possibility of Ukraine’s participation as a intermediary power in solving problems of Polish-Belarusian relations.
The chairman of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka addressed the head of the Border-security Forces Committee of Belarus General Paulouski for explanations, under which law and on account of which circumstances the name of the UCP leader has been included to the special list of citizens searched on every crossing of the border. Last week, materials of the conference “From Solidarity to Freedom” (Warsaw, Gdansk), were seized from Anatol Lyabedzka in the Minsk airport.
Giorgi Kandelaki and Luka Tsuladze -- two activists of Georgia`s Kmara, an organization that was instrumental in deposing the Georgian government during the bloodless Rose Revolution in 2003 -- were arrested in Minsk on 24 August, reportedly because the authenticity of their passports raised official "doubts." The following day a KGB official announced on Belarusian Television that they would be deported from Belarus for meddling in the country`s internal affairs. But the authorities subsequently changed their mind once again, and a district court in Minsk on 29 August sentenced the two Georgians to 15 days in jail each for "petty hooliganism," finding them guilty of a fight that they had allegedly started in a prison cell. Amnesty International declared them prisoners of conscience. On 2 September, the Minsk City Court released them, finding the district court`s verdict "ungrounded." Kandelaki gave an interview to Natalya Radzina from Belarus`s Charter-97 human rights group, which was posted at its website (http://www.charter97.org) on 5 September under the title "Paranoia is a sign of the regime`s death throes." Below is a translation of this interview.
The political prisoner Valiery Lievanieuski who spends his term at penal colony #22 in Ivatsevichy, organized there a library. At present the library has about a thousand of books, magazines and newspapers that have been sent from all corners of Belarus. However, not all of them passed the prison censorship.
The apocalyptic phrase "last summer of the opposition" was the title of an article by Dmitry Drigailo, which prognosticated that after the 2006 presidential elections in Belarus, the political opposition would cease to exist. Either it will come to power or "it will be taken to the prosecutor`s office" in the event that current president, Alexander Lukashenka, is reelected to office (Belorusskaya gazeta, August 26).
The revolutions in Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine underscore that the opening for genuine democratization -- an opportunity missed throughout parts of the former Soviet bloc in the late 1980s and early 1990s -- has reappeared. There exists a great opportunity for the post-Soviet world to free itself finally from its totalitarian heritage.
Russia will not tolerate outside interference in former Soviet republics or any attempts to destabilise countries on Russia’s borders, President Putin declared last night. Still angry at the Orange Revolution that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian leader in December, Mr Putin denounced non-governmental organisations that were quietly backed by Western governments and fomented uprisings in Moscow’s former sphere of influence.
Russian government rejected credit to Belarus for the sum of GDP in 2006. Belarus wanted the money to compensate its losses caused by an increase in Russian gas prices in 2005. It was said on Tuesday to Interfax by first vice-prime minister of the government, Uladzimir Syamashka (Semashnko). “We have received an official refusal of Russian government. We need investment recourses, but we would endure,” Syamashka said, underlining that Belarus is able to pay for gas.
The Russian ruble will not be introduced in Belarus on January 1, 2006, prime minister of Russia Mikhail Fradkov has told a briefing tonight after the sitting of the Union State Council of Minister. In his words, it is impossible to prepare introduction of the single currency within next few months.
An issue on granting USD 146 million credit to Belarus by Russia aimed to compensate the rise in gas prices will be solved within next few days, first deputy prime minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko informed during the first Belarusian-Russian economic forum.
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
