The former candidate for presidency in Belarus, a political prisoner Alyaksandr Kazulin, can resume the hunger strike at any moment, says his lawyer, Ihar Rynkevich, who has visited his client in the colony Vitsba-3 today.

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In Hrodna 2 members of the United Civil Party have been registered as candidates for deputies in the local election. They are the head of Hrodna regional organization of the United Civil party Yury Istomin and the chairman of Hrodna city UCP branch Dzmitry Slutski. They have been registered as candidates for deputies of Hrodna regional council of deputies and Hrodna city council.

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Alyaksandr Lukashenka has stated that Russia and Belarus in the near future can lift a number of difficult questions concerning the constitutional act of the “union state” and the single currency. “We wanted to enclose in parentheses two issues, the constitutional act and the single currency, on which a difficult, but as far as I know, fruitful work is taking place. But as a result of hard and long negotiations we seem to have found a thread we would be able to follow,” A. Lukashenka said at the session of enlarged meeting of the Supreme State council in the Kremlin.

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The leader of the democratic forces of Belarus Alyaksandr Milinkevich had a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The meeting took place on December 14 in Belgium during the congress of the European People’s Party (EPP). In the conversation with the leader of the opposition Angel Merkel noted that “Germany is closely following the current events in Belarus”.

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More than 140 signatures of second-year students of history department have been collected in support of Yury Bachyshcha, a lecturer of Slavonic history chair of the Belarusian State Polytechnic University. They were submitted to the court and attached to the file on reinstating him at work. Students have signed the petition despite the pressure by the administration of the university. The dean’s office had warned that five students from those who had signed the petition would be evicted.

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Belarus and Kazakhstan have great possibilities for development of cooperation in the sphere of energetic, told an Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Belarus Bolat Iskakov answering the questions of journalists during a press-conference.

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Homel city election commission has registered only one forth of democratic activists who were nominated as candidates for deputies of the city council. Among them were two members of the United Civil Party, one member of the Belarusian Popular Front party, one from the Conservative Christian party - Belarusian Popular front, and one from the Party of Communists of Belarus. A representative of the PCB hasn’t withdrawn her candidature just as an experiment, the BelaPAN has been informed by a regional headquarters of the united democratic forces.

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Minsk city court has upheld a decision of the court of Kastrychnitski district of Minsk, according to which the leader of the “Young Front” organization, a political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich had been sentenced to a 1.5 years of imprisonment, Radio Svaboda informs.

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Building of a “union state” of Russia and Belarus is a fiction. This opinion has been expressed by a deputy director of the Europe Institute, a chairman of the presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence policy Sergei Karaganov. “No construction of a “union state” is taking place. It’s a fiction,” he said.

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A deputy chairman of the United Civil Party Ludmila Hraznova has been denied registration as a candidate for deputy of Minsk city council in Pershamajski constituency No.53. As said in the election commission, signatures of dwellers of other constituency were found in her signature sheets.

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A delegation of Belenergo concern which has arrived to Kyiv, has agreed the terms of the export of Ukrainian electricity with representatives of Ukrenergo and Ukrinterenergo. As the BelaPAN was informed by Ukrenergo, agreement has been reached on all questions, however the results are not revealed so far. Today the Belarusian delegation is to meet with Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yury Bojko.

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Today’s get-together of presidents of Russia and Belarus in Moscow will finally make clear whether Russia will stop shipping gas to Belarus January 1, 2007 and whether Russia will deprive Belarus of $1.7 billion to $2 billion a year generated by the so-called Belarus’ offshore. The outcome will depend on the readiness of Alyaksandr Lukashenka to yield control over Beltransgaz to Gazprom under conditions advantageous for the gas monopoly of Russia, Russian “Kommersant” writes.

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