Baraulyansky department of the Minsk district division for internal affairs refused to bring a criminal lawsuit for dismantling the “Clinton’s bench” memorial in the Kurapaty suburb. As a well-known researcher of the Stalin’s repressions, candidate of historic sciences Igar Kuznyatsov reported to BelaPAN, 22 February he got the answer of Baraulyansky department of the Minsk district division for internal affairs to his application. As the letter follows, the decision on refusal to bring a criminal law was made 15 February on the basis of the results of the investigation which runs as follows: ”no significant facts indicating the crime were found out”.

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Alyaksandr Lukashenka is going to pay an official visit to Sudan in the near future, reported the Belarusian news agency Belapan. Alyaksandr Lukashenka Official sources quoted the Belarusian president as saying this at a meeting with the speaker of the National Assembly of Sudan, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir, on 20 February.Lukashenka said at the meeting that the visit by the Sudanese delegation to Belarus will contribute to boosting relations between the two countries. "Sudan occupies a certain place" in Belarus’s foreign political and economic strategy, the Belarusian president stressed.

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Assistant of President of the Russian Federation Sergei Yastrzhembsky considers that Russia has to build pipelines passing by such transit countries as, for instance, Belarus. “The fewer transit states on the way of Russian energy resources to Europe, the better both for Russia and for Europe –it will be easier for us and more convenient for them. And that will only increase the energy security”, Putin’s assistant declared in his interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

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This year’s January unpleasantly surprised Minskovites: apartment prices would not wait for spring to come. In a month and half time since the beginning of this year an average price of one sq. meter has increased by USD 165. It means that on the New Year eve a one-room apartment of 35 sq. meters cost 42.5 thousand dollars and today sellers charge USD 48 thousand for it. And these are the most modest apartments at the outskirts or in ugly- looking buildings. The majority of one-room apartments are offered for USD 1600- 1800 per square meter, thus amounting on average to USD 55 thousand for a “one- roomy”. In Berlin a two-room apartment 15 minutes ride from the center costs USD50 thousand.

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It was reported in the ministry of finance of Belarus on Thursday 22 February that the Belarusian government turned to the Russian government for a stand-by credit of USD 1.5 billion. According to the source from the ministry of finance, a final amount and a period have not been settled, yet. Now the government is waiting for the Russian party’s answer.

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Yesterday an on-line conference with leader of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka was held at the site of Radio Svaboda. When answering the listener’s question “why the party leaders have got in the way of Alyaksandr Milinkevitch – true leader who is doing his best for the sake of the Motherland’s future” Anatol Lyabedzka said “Can you get in the way of a person who has got everything: the money , international acknowledgement and people’s affection?”

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The amount of USD cash bought by Belarusian individuals in January exceeded the amount sold by USD 177.6 million. That was reported by the National Bank’s spokesman Mikhail Zhuravovich.

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Oil transit was thrown into the spotlight again last week after announcements that Lithuania was interested in helping Belarus curtail reliance on Russian oil imports and that Russia’s Transneft intended to build to new pipeline bypassing Belarus. While in Washington, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus told a press conference at the National Press Club that the Baltic state has offered Belarus use of its oil import terminal and pipeline system to import crude oil. He added that he had spoken with Vice President Dick Cheney and Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman about the idea.

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Belarus will sell more than 100 tractors to an Iranian company as an initial step in an ambitious investment programme in the Middle Eastern nation`s agriculture, a Belarusian official said Wednesday.

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A change in the Russian government eclipsed all the other events of last week. There was even no time to pay attention to interviews of foreign presidents with the Russian media. Few noticed what Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in a conversation with writer Alexander Prokhanov at Echo of Moscow Radio, which was reproduced by the newspaper Zavtra. This is a real pity.

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Ministry of statistics and analysis of Belarus confirmed that tariffs for communal-general services to the population had increased in January once again. Quantitative analysis of the payments shows that the increase was much higher than that promised by the government and head of the Belarusian state. Alyaksadr Lukashenka promised in public that the communal payments raise in the course of 2007 would not exceed 5 dollars. But in the first month this indicator was surpassed.

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Tighter import laws will increase the price of most perfumes used by Belarusian women by fifty per cent or more, the Belapan news agency reported Thursday.

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