Until we see double standards in the policy of the EU countries regarding Belarus, we would react adequately; the head of the state Alyaksandr Lukashenka said addressing heads of diplomatic missions. “In case there would be attempts to pressure us economically, we would adjust our position on the issues of bilateral relations, first of all in trade and transport spheres. But we would not like to take such moves certainly. They would not make us closer to the aim we are striving to consistently: to create a belt of good neighbourhood and security around Belarus, and a united stable Europe, our Europe, because Belarus has not only our Russia, but our Belarus,” he added.

---

Aliaksandar Lukashenka stated this Tuesday in Minsk at the meeting with Belarusian diplomats that “not only the CIS is attacked - the attempts to part our countries, to stir them up against each other are growing outside and inside.” “Here I mean the transformation of the GUAM (international organization of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) into the Community of Democratic Choice,” - Lukashenka explained. He pointed out, however, the relations of Belarus and Russia had got more pragmatic.

---

On August 1 interrogation of witnesses continued at a closed trial in the case of activists of the civil initiative of elections observation “Partnerstva” in the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk. As the Charter’97 press center was told by relatives of the defendants, today almost all witnesses for prosecution have been interrogated in the court room. At the next session witnesses for defence should be questioned.

---

Workers of the special detention center of the Internal Affairs department of Minsk in Akrestsin Street refuse to pass food parcels for Russian citizens Nikolai Zboroshenko and Ekaterina Vinokurova. They are serving a sentence for a rally on July 22 near the Russian Embassy in Belarus. An officer on duty Haduntsou and a police sergeant-major Korbel said to a young activist Krystsina Shatsikava that they would not pass parcels as she is not a family member of the arrested.

---

In the morning of August 1 about a ten taxi cars stopped at the terminal stop of number 15 near the market of automotive parts in the district “Uschod”. Representatives of civil society, mostly young people, gathered there. They called themselves a group of support of the hunger strikers. Before the protest volunteers and taxi drivers handed out leaflets with a slogan “Together we shall win!” explaining the reasons of the hunger strike of Brest taxi drivers, the Radio Svaboda informs.

---

Aliaksandar Lukashenka deems a nuclear power station will ensure energy security for Belarus. “Our own nuclear power station is an essential factor of energy security in Belarus. It is likely to be indispensable in the future,” - A.Lukashenka said this Tuesday in Minsk at the meeting with Belarusian diplomats.

---

Today acting US Ambassador to Belarus Jonathan Moor has come to the building of the Minsk Central district court where the legal proceedings of “Partnership” activists are being held. He said he had come to see it with his own eyes, to get acquainted with the people who are concerned with the trial, and to express support for the families of the accused.

---

Today a participant of the hunger strike of taxi shuttles, Lubou Rezanovich, stated that she refuses water. A doctor Ala Vyabek is watching by a sickbed of the woman in her apartment. “Today she feels worse. Do you know what do three days of a hunger strike mean? She goes without water and emergency aid that wanted to inject glucose. It may end bad,” the doctor said to the Radio Svaboda.

---

At an annual consultations with heads of diplomatic missions Alyaksandr Lukashenka has stated that Belarus is pursuing and would pursue a flexible foreign policy, but would not “cave in” to “democracy teachers”.

---

Sociologists of the National Institute of Social and Economical, Political Research (Vilnius, Lithuania) held a survey in order to estimate the level of patriotism of the Belarusians. Respondents were asked a question: “Would you like to move abroad if you had a chance?”

---

Today, on August 1, a young activist Valeryja Bandarenka was summoned for a conversation to a Baranavichy lyceum number 1, a human rights center Viasna informs. As the girl was told, the conversation would touch upon her eviction from the lyceum. Valeryja was one of the activists detained on Lenin Square in Baranavichy on the Day of Solidarity on July 16.

---

In Mahilyou a meeting of young activists with an oppositionist Uladzimir Navasyad (Vladimir Novosyad) has taken place. Participants of the meeting exchanged ideas on some issues of youth democratic movement and their possible participation in upcoming local elections.

---

Today a deputy prosecutor of Zelva district has invited for conversation a mother of a scholarship holder of Kastus Kalinouski program, Yauhen Skrabutan, an activist of the Hrodna branch of the Young Front.

---

The Foreign Ministry of Belarus refutes statements of officials of Latvian Foreign Ministry, disseminated by Belarusian and Latvian media, that Belarusian Ambassador in Latvia had breached diplomatic practice.

---

An activist of a Russian youth movement Oborona Nikolai Zboroshenko, who is serving an administrative arrest in the special detention prison in Minsk, has gone on a hunger strike of protest, the Charter’97 press center was informed by Oborona representatives. As we have informed, on July 26 two activists of the Russian youth movement Oborona Nikolay Zboroshenko and Ekaterina Vinokurova were sentenced to 15 and 10 days of arrest by the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk. On July 23 young people took part in a protest in front of the Russian Embassy with a demand to stop Russia’s support of Lukashenka’s regime.

---