French consul in Belarus Josette Mira has met with a car accident at the crossing of Kamunistychnaya and Kujbyshau Street in Minsk. Her car Citroen crashed into a jeep Toyota. The diplomat and a driver were taken to a hospital.
Dietary regime has been prolonged for Alyaksandr Kauzlin, a former candidate for presidency, the leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic party (Hramada), who is serving a sentence in a corrective labour colony Vitsba-3, until February 15. It has been said by his wife Iryna Kazulina at a press-conference today. She is set to demand independent doctor’s examination for her husband.
A human rights organization “Reporters without Borders” has published a report on situation with freedom of expression worldwide in 2006. In the section dedicated to Belarus, “Reporters without Borders” speak about the situation in Belarus before and after the presidential vote.
Yesterday evening at 10.30 p.m. a search was carried out in a private apartment of the secretary of the Belarusian Popular Front Andrei Sarotnik. The head of the central council of the party Uladzimir Kishkurna was in the apartment at that moment.
On 31 January the militiamen came to Syargei Rabtsau and asked him to follow them to the Vitebsk court. When the activist told them that he could not leave his disabled mother alone the militiamen mentioned that they had been ordered to bring him and forced him into the car, reported the Radio Ratsiya.
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin declared that Russia was not going to refuse the creation of the “union state” with Belarus. “We, together with Belarus, are going to continue the construction of the “union state”, said Putin at his conference in the Kremlin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has refuted a statement that Russia uses economic levers for achieving its foreign policy ends. “We are always told that Russia is using its uses existing and new economic resources to achieve foreign policy aims. That is not the case,” V. Putin said at a press-conference in the Kremlin. “The Russian Federation has been meeting its obligations in full force and effect and is set to meet all its obligations in the future, but we are not obliged to subsidise the economies of other countries by vast sums comparable to their budgets,” Russian president underlined, obviously hinting at Belarus.
Full-value political relationship with Lukashenka is possible only if he observes certain conditions, general secretary of the Christian –Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany Ronald Pofalla declared in his interview to BelaPAN on the 31 of January.
Since February 1, 2007 Belarus has started buying the Russian oil according to the new price formula. The new formula implies that the oil delivery price is based not on the internal Russian price but on the world price less freight costs, port duties and other transport expenses.
The main economic board of the Department of Presidential Affairs has extended the tenancy agreement with the republican pubic association “Belarusian Helsinki Committee”, which previously was demanded to vacate premises. “It is hard to speak about some changed in the policy and in the attitude towards the third sector, to public associations. We should see not individual facts or decisions taken probably at the highest level. We must see a real improvement of the situation for activities of non-governmental organizations in Belarus. I would like to remind that for instance within the last seven years no of human rights organizations have been registered by Justice Ministry,” a well-known human rights activist Ales Byalatski said to Radio Svaboda.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka has congratulated the first president of the Russian Federation Boris Eltsin with his birthday, BELTA informs with reference to the press-service of the Belarusian president. Alyaksandr Lukashenka expressed a hope that “in this difficult time Boris Eltsin’s wisdom, experience and vital power would contribute to development of Belarusian-Russian relations”.
On January 31 at the session of the Political Council of the United Democratic forces adopted a decision to hold a Congress of democratic forces on March 17-18. the Political Council of the United democratic forces has also reached a decision to hold a mass protest rally on March 25.
Raising energy supplies prices for consumers of Belarus and Russia should have taken place simultaneously. This opinion has been expressed by first vice prime minister of the Belarusian government Uladzimir Syamashka at the session of the National council on labour and social issues. He explained that Russian government had to adopt the principle of equal profitability and was driven to raising prices for energy supplies, and on the home market as well. This principle means that profits of the seller of energy is to be equal in supplies to all buyers. As we have informed, Russia increased gas prices for Belarus twofold in 2007, while it was increased averagely by 15% in Russia. By 2011 prices for Russian energy supplies at home and external markets should become equal.
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