“We are not going to become a part of some country…The Belarusian people have deserved a right to live in their state. Another question is what kind of union with Russia it would be. But our people voted for the union on the principle of equal rights,” A. Lukashenka said in an interview to the “Rossijskaya Gazeta”. As said by him, the Russian side had repeatedly offered two variants of the union relations’ development. “We have been offered to become the 90th subject of the Federation. If I would agree to merge Belarus and Russia, the situation here would be worse than in Chechnya, and our national minority members and the West are simply looking forward to that,” he noted.
This week in Vitsebsk the KGB officers detained Alyaksadnr Darafeeu, an activist of the democratic movement, a member of the initiative group of the candidate for presidency of the democratic forces Alyaksandr Milinkevich. It is known that the authorities are allegedly suspect him of taking part in organizing blasts in Vitsebsk. It is impossible at the moment to find out in detail the charges against Darafeeu. It is only known that he is transferred from Vitsebsk to the capital and placed to Minsk KGB.
“Belarus has never going and is not going to the NATO, and we are speaking about the NATO extension more radically that Russia,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka stated in an interview published on Monday in the “Rossijskaya Gazeta”. “Today together with Russia we are developing weapons and we are buying only Russian weapons,” Lukashenka added.
Poland has a new president. Alexander Kwasniewski, who was a president for two terms, since 1995, has been replaced with Lech Kaczynski, who has taken oaths. In his inauguration speech he touched upon the Belarusian problem.
Unprecedented provocation against activists of the Zubr movement took place in the evening on December 23 in Homel. An activist of the “Zubr” movement Pavel Madzjara and two of his friends were detained by the unknown at the street at about 23 p.m. During the body search the young people were planted illegal drugs.
The first stage of the Belarusian presidential campaign finished late last week. Those willing to replace Alexander Lukashenko in the post of the president turned in their registration documents. Meanwhile, President Lukashenko made a reshuffles among local authorities, appointed new heads for TV channels and promised shake-ups in the Committee of the State Security (the Belarusian abbreviation is KGB).
Today www.ucpb.org received a letter signed by the group of officers, sergeants and soldiers, who were on military service in Afghanistan. These people are afraid that Nikolaj Avtukhovich, a businessman from Volkovysk, who has been imprisoned and went on a hunger strike, may die any moment.
In 2005, President Bush set before the nation the goal of "ending tyranny in our world." In 2006, he is scheduled to attend the first meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Russia, which spent this year positioning itself as a leader of the world`s pro-tyranny camp.
Belarus is on the verge of great events. In March presidential elections are to take place. Alyaksandr Lukashenka has come forward as a candidate for the third time, and apparently he wants to rule the country eternally. Who will stop him? What the opposition’s actions would be in case the results of the presidential elections would be rigged? What would change in the life of the Belarusians when democrats would come to power? These and other questions could be asked by you in an online regime to the presidential candidate of the united Belarusian opposition Alyaksandr Milinkevich. You can talk to him on December 27 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the site www.milinkevich.org http://www.milinkevich.org .
Approximate completion date of creation a Russian-Belarusian joint-venture based on “Beltransgaz” was announced in an interview to the Agency of gas information (Russia) by Russias state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom president of the board Alexandr Medvedev. As said by him, it could take within the nearest two-three months. A. Medvedev noted that “the sooner we would reach agreement on Beltransgaz, the easier it would be to plan the pricing policy for Belarus in the future”, as “in any case the special price for Belarus would be valid only for the year 2006”.
In the interview to Zerkalo Nedeli, PM Yuri Yekhanurov revealed the Cabinet’s plans on the next year. In particular he said:” May I tell something that you have not asked me and none has known it yet? For example, Ukraine will supply electricity to Belarus. It will be 2.5 milliard kilowatts per hour. I greatly appreciate the President of Belarus Lukashenko for his initiative in this project. Belarus made a decision to diversify the electricity sources.
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