Justice Ministry of Belarus has finished an audit of activities of the Party of Communists of Belarus (PCB), including the check of its members’ number and whether it conforms to requirements of the law. The membership of at least 1,300 members has been confirmed in the check of the Justice Ministry, which in general corresponds with the legislation requirements on a minimal number of political party members. But Justice Ministry states that for 200 persons on the list the membership in the party hasn’t been confirmed. That is why an official warning has been issued to the party of Communists of Belarus, and a term given for curing breaches.
The criminal action brought up against the head of Hrodna city branch of the Union of Poles in Belarus Mieczyslaw Jaskiewicz has been taken to the court of Kastrychnitski district of Hrodna. The Charter’97 press-center has been informed about that by an activist of the Union of Poles in Belarus Andrzej Poczobut.
On January 9 local youth activists Vadzim Lohvinau and Alyaksei Kryventsau stood trial. In September 2006 they draw oppositional graffiti on the walls of a student hostel. Judge Zhana Krauchanka fined the young activists 930 thousand rubles each.
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) plans to observe the country`s elections for local soviets that began on Tuesday. As BHC Executive Director Oleg Gulak told BelaPAN, members of the human rights group are expected to monitor the poll at the early voting stage and on the main voting day, January 14, both in Minsk and in the provinces.
Yelena Medvedeva, a member of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada" running in the local elections in Bobruisk, Mogilyov region, was detained by police for several hours on Sunday.
Three opposition candidates have withdrawn from the coming elections for local soviets in the Gomel region, citing pressure from the authorities as the reason. As human rights defender Telman Maslyukov told BelaPAN, Viktor Romanishko, a Svetlogorsk-based activist, and Valery Putitsky, a resident of Rechitsa, have pulled out from the race for the Gomel Regional Soviet, and Anatoly Poplavny has dropped his bid for a seat on the Gomel City Soviet.
Mr. Putitsky also planned to run for the Rechitsa District Soviet.
The European Commission urged Russia and Belarus on Tuesday to settle quickly a dispute over an oil pipeline that is hitting supplies to several European Union countries, saying Moscow risked being seen as unreliable.
An action of solidarity with families of abducted repressed Belarusians, with political prisoners and all who fight for freedom and democracy in Belarus is to take place in Washington on January 16. A civil imitative “Poglyad” is the initiator of the event.
Recent irregularities in oil deliveries from Russia through pipeline Druzhba via Belarus to Poland and Germany put into the limelight decreased reliability of Russian oil supplies to Central Europe. “Belarus is a key country for Russian oil transit to Central Europe, considering that the three parts of Druzhba pipeline pass through it,” Fitch group Associate Director Arkadiusz Wicik said to Reuters.
On Tuesday Russian president Vladimir Putin to meet his officials in the Kremlin to discuss the issue of resuming oil export to Europe via trunk oil pipeline Druzhba. “The meeting in he Kremlin is to start in 12.30. There will be also talks with Belarusian officials who have arrived in Moscow,” Reuters has been informed by a source in oil industry.
Friendship with undemocratic rulers cannot be strong and is not doing anything to Russia damage to its reputation, stated the head of Russia’s Federation Council`s Foreign Affairs Committee Mikhail Margelov, commenting on customs row between Russia and Belarus.
Russia and Belarus were to hold negotiations Tuesday on a damaging trade row that has led Moscow to halt oil supplies to Europe via Belarus, the Russian trade ministry said. A delegation led by Vice-Premier Andrei Kobyakov flew to Moscow Tuesday to find a solution to the transit of oil through Belarus, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in Minsk.
There were not any serious incidents during Aleksandr Milinkevich`s meetings with voters in Grodno on Monday, Pavel Mozheiko, spokesman for the Belarusian opposition leader, told BelaPAN.
Oleg Volchek, a prominent human rights defender and Aleksandr Kozulin`s associate, has pulled out from the race for the Minsk City Soviet after finding it impossible to have his election leaflets printed.
Effective January 1, the Russian government has introduced a heavily-hitting export duty of $181 per ton of crude oil delivered to Belarus. Those deliveries had been duty-free until now. Signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on December 8, 2006, the decision places oil deliveries to Belarus under the same customs regime as the deliveries to countries that are not members of the CIS Customs Union/Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEc, which includes Belarus). If those organizations have existed largely on paper until now, they may begin losing even their paper existence as a result of such Russian measures.
Customs officials of Homel have complied a protocol on administrative violation against Transneft president Semyaon Vainshtok, as informed by the press service of the Belarusian customs committee. A copy has been sent to the Russian company`s headquarters.
Russian oil deliveries to six European countries (Poland, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine) via trunk pipeline Druzhba have been disrupted, BelaPAN informs. On Tuesday morning Vice Prime Minister Andrei Kabyakou left for Moscow. As Belarusian Embassy to Moscow informs, the aim of Kabyakou visit is “talks for settling of mutual claims concerning Russia’s imposing oil export duty unilaterally and in violation of Belarusian-Russian agreements, and Belarusian duty for oil transported via Belarus”.
As Russia and Belarus sought to blame each other on Monday over the suspension of oil supplies through the northern leg of the Druzhba oil pipeline to Poland and Germany, Europe might well have paused to take stock of its own share of responsibility for the latest threat to its energy security. For, as charge and counter-charge flies between Moscow and Minsk over who is really to blame for the current debacle, the fact is that Europe has done next to nothing in recent years to produce a coherent response to Vladimir Putin’s increasingly authoritarian regime in Russia and far too little to tame Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal dictatorship in Belarus.
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