INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

BELARUS UPDATE

Edited by Victor Cole
Vol. 3, No. 21

May 2000

IN THIS ISSUE:

--HUMAN RIGHTS AND OPPOSITION NEWS--

EX-PREMIER SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN JAIL
On May 19, the Minsk City Court sentenced Mikhail Chigir, former Belarusian Prime Minister and opposition leader, to three years in prison with a two-year reprieve, Charter 97 reported. Chigir was found guilty of "criminal negligence" and "abuse of power resulting in serious damage to the state budget" under Articles 167-168 of the Belarusian Criminal Code (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 18, 19, 20). The court ordered him to pay $220,000 in damages. The prosecution demanded a five-year term in a high-security prison. The former prime minister called the sentence "legally absurd" and intends to appeal it immediately. He has pledged to continue his opposition political activities and to run for the Belarusian presidency next year. The courtroom proved to be too small for all those who wished to attend the court hearing. When the crowd attempted to squeeze in, a brawl began during which Chigir's wife Julia was hurt, Itar-Tass reported. (Charter 97; Itar-Tass, May 19)

OPPOSITION MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF 1995 REFERENDUM
On May 14, about three hundred people carrying national emblems and banners gathered on Oktyabrskaya Square in downtown Minsk to mark the anniversary of the May 1995 referendum, Charter 97 reported. [The referendum made Russian a state language alongside with Belarusian, and replaced the white-red-white flag and the Pahonya [the Chase] State Emblem with the Soviet-style symbols. The historically national white-red-white flag was used as the Belarusian state flag in the period between the breakup of the USSR and the ascendance of Lukashenko.- Ed.] Opposition activists assembled for what was described as "public festivities, not a demonstration" in the same square near presidential administration where the official ceremony of raising the Soviet-style red flag took place earlier that morning. The Belarusian Social Democratic Party, which organized the event, did not apply to the Minsk City Council for permission. No incidents with the police were reported. A similar action took place in Borisov, (Minsk region), were local activists of the BSDP unfolded placards denouncing Lukashenko's Moscow-leaning foreign policy and tore up the text of the 1996 Constitution and Lukashenko's portrait.

On May 13-14, Malady Front activists in Minsk, Mogilev, Borisov, Vitebsk, and Kokhanov staged an action entitled "The City Belongs to Us!" marking the fifth anniversary of the May 1995 referendum, the Malady Front press service informed the League. A huge white-red-white flag was put on display on Skaryna Prospect in Minsk. Dozens of similar flags were hung throughout residential areas of the Belarusian capital. In Borisov, a white-red-white flag with the slogan " National Symbols Will Remain With Belarusians Despite All Referenda and Bans" was seen in front of the City Council. In Vitebsk, white-red-white flags were placed near the roofs of the highest buildings. Graffiti condemning the May 1995 referendum was painted on the Committee of State Control and adjacent buildings in downtown Mogilev.

On May 13, members of the Francisk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society held a picket on Lenin square in downtown Vitebsk. The protesters accused Lukashenko of trampling on symbols that are dear to all conscientious Belarusians and of preparing a criminal plan to liquidate Belarus's statehood. The Malady Front activists held a similar action in Bobruisk. (Charter 97, May 15; Malady Front press service, May 14)

INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION DEPLORES HARASSMENT OF DEPUTIES
On May 6, the 166th session of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union held in Amman, adopted a resolution on the violation of rights of Victor Gonchar, Andrei Klimov, Vladimir Koudinov, and Valery Shchukin, all deputies of the Belarusian 13th Supreme Soviet. "The Committee considers that the information contained in the mission report and its findings tend to reveal a pattern of harassment of the 13th Supreme Soviet deputies who are opposed to President Lukashenko, and urges the Belarusian authorities to abstain from such practices," reads the resolution. The Committee members expressed deep concern at the lack of findings in the investigation into Gonchar's disappearance, and urged the authorities to make every effort to establish his whereabouts. They also criticized the sentence given to Mr. Klimov as being "grossly disproportionate to his alleged offence," but note with "great satisfaction the intention of the authorities to release Mr. Koudinov on July 1, 2000."

The Committee called on the Belarusian authorities to comply with the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and drew their attention, in particular, to the necessity to respect the right to freedom of assembly, "observance of which is crucial for the holding of free and fair elections." It requested the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining Belarus and report to it at its next session in October 2000. The Committee is also investigating complaints regarding the following members of the 13th Supreme Soviet: Stanislav Bogdankevich, Anatoly Lebedko, Mechislav Grib, Semyon Sharetsky, Alexander Dobrovolsky, Semyon Domash, Pavel Znavets and Ludmila Gryaznova. (Charter 97, May 10)

RUSSIA LASHES OUT AT CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION
On May 10, Russia's Foreign Ministry sharply criticized the U.S. congressional resolution, H. Con. Res. 304, which condemned the loose union between Russia and neighboring Belarus as anti-democratic. "It is strange that American lawmakers, stubbornly ignoring the obvious facts, groundlessly assert that the treaty establishing the union is supposed to undermine Belarusian independence and prospects of democracy," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The U.S. resolution, passed in the House of Representatives on May 3, condemns Alexander Lukashenko for systematically suppressing dissent, creating "an authoritarian police state, where human rights are routinely violated," and allowing living conditions to plummet (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 19). The resolution cited reports that Russia has been providing financial aid and perks to the cash-strapped Belarusian government since the two countries signed a union agreement in 1996. The money has enabled Lukashenko to maintain a large police force and state control of the economy, the resolution said, urging President Clinton to press Russia to halt such aid. Russia defended the union. "Russian-Belarusian integration, which is being developed on a strictly voluntary, equal, and mutually advantageous basis, realizes the deeply held aspirations of the two brotherly nations, which sincerely wish to build their peaceful democratic future together," the Foreign Ministry said. (AP, May 10)

BELARUSIAN LAWMAKERS DENOUNCE US CONGRESS RESOLUTION
On May 17, the Belarusian National Assembly denounced H. Con. Res. 304, considering it "interference in the internal affairs of Russia and Belarus." The Belarusian parliamentarians have urged the Clinton administration and Congress to stop putting political, economic and moral pressure on Belarus and to observe the norms and principles of international law. "American lawmakers deliberately refuse to receive accurate information on the issue either from the National Assembly, the legally functioning Belarusian parliament, or the Belarusian diplomatic representation in the U.S.," reads a statement issued by Belarusian lawmakers. They accused the United States of supporting "extremist opposition forces" in Belarus whose aim is to destabilize the situation in the country on the pretext of democratic changes. (Belapan, May 17)

UNION'S PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY BLASTS US RESOLUTION ON BELARUS
On May 18, the 15th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union, held in Minsk, disapproved the H. Con. Res. 304, calling it counter-productive and contradicting the norms of international relations. "The recommendations by the U.S. legislators are aimed at interference in the internal affairs of two sovereign states and undermine the actively developing integration processes within the Union," wrote the Assembly's delegates in a statement. (Itar-Tass, May 18)

TRUE THREAT TO BELARUS SECURITY COMES FROM WITHIN
On May 16, during a meeting with the graduates of the Department on Foreign Relations at the Belarusian State University, U.S. ambassador to Belarus Daniel Speckhard said that Lukashenko's plans to set up a joint Belarus-Russia military unit, ready to fight NATO at any moment, may provoke an analogous response from the West. [On April 11, Lukashenko announced that Belarus and Russia will have a 300,000-strong joint military unit on the Belarusian-Russian border. Lukashenko said that the unit's formation was prompted by the complicated military and political situation in the world, NATO's expansion to the Belarusian border, the escalation of regional conflicts and a growing wave of international terrorism.- Ed.] The U.S. ambassador considers such steps an outdated understanding of the world situation. "The true threat to Belarusian state security doesn't come from NATO, but rather from internal problems, primarily related to the country's economic problems, along with the transnational ones such as criminality, terrorism, drug trafficking," Speckhard said. Attempts to create a strong military grouping will not only undermine the region's relative stability but will also threaten the safety of Belarus's neighboring countries, in particular, Poland and Lithuania, he continued. "I am greatly concerned over the possibility of Belarus turning into a pawn in someone else's game. The country should care more about its own interests rather than pleasing Russia," Speckhard concluded. (Charter 97, May 17)

MISUNDERSTOOD AGAIN?
On May 17, Alexander Lukashenko expressed his concern over a "misunderstanding" by the U.S. of a joint Belarusian-Russian concept of the defense of the Union's Western border. "The U.S. has wrongly interpreted the plans of the two allied countries to cooperate more closely in the sphere of defense," Lukashenko said at a meeting in Minsk with Vladimir Zemsky, Secretary General of the Collective Security Council, which unites 12 former Soviet states. "In setting up a 300,000-strong joint military grouping," Lukashenko continued, "we did not imply a beefing up of the army near NATO borders." "We simply do not have enough money to arm and maintain 300,000 troops," he said. The Belarusian leader said a 300,000-strong joint Russian-Belarusian armed force would be formed only to act in defense during a military conflict, and would not be a standing army. Lukashenko also declared that he is aware of the NATO's plans to deploy their forces on the territory of the new alliance's members. According to him, the object of possible NATO aggression is Russia, not Belarus. "But we cannot let their tanks pass through our territory," Lukashenko said. He believes that Moscow realizes the danger and is ready to protect the common western border from possible military offense. Belarus, which cooperates with NATO under its "Partnership for Peace" program, has been seeking a bilateral agreement with the alliance after Poland joined NATO last year, but has received little response from Brussels. Meanwhile, the Agenstvo Voyennykh Novostei Russian military news agency quoted Col. Sergey Lavshuk, head of the department of military education of the Russian Defense Ministry, as saying that the Ministry has increased the quota of Belarusian servicemen to be enrolled at Russian higher military educational institutions this year. (Agenstvo Voyennykh Novostei, May 15, Interfax, May 17)

LUKASHENKO TO MEET PARTICIPANTS IN BROAD CIVIL DIALOGUE
On May 15, Alexander Lukashenko met with Lydia Yarmoshina, chairwoman of the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda, to discuss this fall parliamentary election, the Belarusian state TV reported. During the meeting, the Belarusian leader expressed his desire to meet by the end of May with participants in the so-called "nationwide civil dialogue." [The Belarusian opposition is boycotting the Lukashenko-initiated talks. - Ed]. Yermoshina suggested that it may result in an adoption of amendments to the Electoral Code. The same day, Yury Khadyka, BPF Adradzhenne deputy chairman, met with an official from the Lukashenko administration in an attempt to start talks between the Consultative Council of Belarusian Opposition Parties and the authorities on the forthcoming parliamentary election. Such talks are being urged by the OSCE, which has threatened not to recognize the elections if the regime fails to reach an understanding with the opposition (See Belarus Update Vol. 3, No. 19). (BBC, May 19)

LUKASHENKO'S AIDE CRITICIZES ELECTORAL CODE, SAYS CHANGES LIKELY
"Had the Electoral Code been subject to the broad discussion prior to enactment, a lot of absurdity would have been avoided," Sergey Posokhov, presidential aide for maintaining ties with the public and organizing work with parties, trade unions, and all public associations, said in an interview published in the Zvyazda [Star] governmental newspaper. In his opinion, it is possible that all amendments that have been proposed by experts in the framework of the Lukashenko-initiated dialogue with NGOs will be approved. [The experts suggest that one third of all seats in local electoral commissions be reserved for representatives of NGOs. They also proposed to give more rights to local observers, to abolish so-called early voting, replacing it with a system of permits allowing those unable to vote at their polling stations to vote in a different place. The group also suggested that in order to nominate a candidate in a parliamentary election, a "group of workers" should have at least 1,000 members [instead of 300]. The experts also want the code to be supplemented with a clause allowing NGOs that have at least 1,000 members to nominate their own candidates. - Ed.] (Zvyazda, May 15)

CZECH SENATORS CONDEMN LUKASHENKO REGIME
On May 12, members of the Committee for International Relations, Defense and Security of the Czech Senate unanimously supported a draft resolution criticizing violations of human rights in Belarus, the Nasha Svaboda independent newspaper reported. The draft resolution, which was sponsored by the Committee chairman Mikhail Zhantovsky and Senator Jan Ruml, who visited Belarus recently and took part in the opposition-staged Charnobylsky Shlyakh 2000 in Minsk on April 26, will be submitted to the Czech Senate for approval. The senators condemned in the strongest terms the persecution of the Lukashenko regime's opponents. They expressed deep concern at the disappearance of political opponents in the country, and said that the exercise of freedom of expression, assembly and association is severely restricted and that neither the independence of the judiciary nor of the legal profession is guaranteed. The authors of the resolution stressed that the Belarusian government institutions' legitimacy can only be restored through political dialogue between the authorities and the opposition. They also called on the Czech government to place pressure on the Belarusian government to honor its pledge to hold free and fair parliamentary elections by the end of this year and presidential elections in 2001. Vasily Kurlovich, secretary of the Belarusian embassy in the Czech Republic, who attended the Committee meeting, admitted that human rights were not observed on a full scale in Belarus but denied that there was mass human rights violation, as the resolution says. He sharply criticized a part of the resolution which called on the Czech government to initiate international sanctions against Belarus and insisted on its exclusion from the text, the CTK news agency reported. (Nasha Svaboda, May 16, CTK, May 15)

OSCE AMG REPORTS ON RESULTS OF OSCE-TROIKA VISIT TO BELARUS
On May 15, the OSCE AMG in Belarus issued a press release on the results of the visit of the OSCE-Troika on the level of political directors to Minsk on 4 - 5 May, 2000. The Delegation was led by Ambassador Walter Siegl from Austria, who was accompanied by Ambassador Steinar Gil from Norway, and Ambassador Mihnae Constantinescu of Romania. "The Mission was another attempt to assist Belarus in finding adequate solutions for preparing a political environment in which free and fair elections could take place," reads the press release. During its talks the Troika-Mission concentrated on four related areas, and the imperative need for substantial improvements, i.e., electoral code, access of opposition parties to state media, functions of Parliament, human rights issues. The Belarusian authorities were clear on the point that elections would be called in July for October, that is, three month in advance, and that international observers would be invited. The opposition parties and NGOs presented their requests and underlined that their program corresponded to the OSCE principles in particular concerning the four areas, which the Troika had enumerated. It was further underlined that the opposition parties were not coordinated last year but that now, with the help of the AMG, they were presenting themselves as a united block, ready to co-operate with the government.

A major problem, however, as stressed by the opposition, was the enormous distrust concerning the government's real intentions, since the signing of the Istanbul Charter by Lukashenko had no follow-up, and negotiations between the government and opposition were stopped by the government without providing any reason. The Troika stressed repeatedly that at issue were basic prerequisites for international election observation, which would set the stage for bringing Belarus back into the mainstream of European politics - an outcome desired by all. Further steps to consider in this process would be another Technical Conference in June in order to assess the development of the situation and a final Assessment Mission to Belarus in August, reads the press-release. The full text of it, as well as OSCE AMG in Belarus programs, contacts, a "Chronology of the Dialogue"(selection of materials on OSCE-initiated dialogue between the Belarusian authorities and the opposition) in English and Russian can be found at the recently updated OSCE AMG website - http://www.osceamg.org.by

EU: COSMETIC CHANGES INTO ELECTORAL CODE ARE NOT SUFFICIENT
On May 11, the European Union issued a statement in which it positively assessed the recent visit of the OSCE delegation to Belarus and urged the Belarusian authorities to undertake all necessary measures to conduct free and fair parliamentary elections this coming fall. Among such measures are the amendments to the electoral code, in particular to the provision regarding the formation of electoral commissions, the opposition's access to the state-run media, cessation of persecution of independent media, NGOs, and opposition organizations. They emphasize the necessity to "stop the politically-motivated show-trials over the opposition members." The EU urged the Lukashenko government to develop a tolerant stance toward peaceful gatherings, which will result in the atmosphere of badly needed trust ahead of the coming parliamentary election. "Cosmetic changes into the electoral code are not sufficient to ensure the involvement of OSCE observers in the campaign, and of course, their further recognition," reads the statement. The EU called upon both the authorities and opposition to take advantage of the dialogue opportunity, created by the recent OSCE Troika visit to Minsk. Meantime, they stress that all the changes and steps need to be undertaken in the shortest possible terms. (Charter 97, May 15)

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER FACES CLOSURE
The Lukashenko government deploys an ingenious array of methods to muffle independent press, from beating journalists to financial pressure and rigid censorship. On May 15, the Nasha Niva independent newspaper was reprimanded by the office of the Prosecutor General for publishing in one of its April issues an article by Semyon Sharetski, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet and opposition-appointed Acting President of Belarus, entitled "The Infection of Fascism: Lukashenko is Copying Hitler." The State Press Committee alleged that Sharetsky's article "abuses the freedom of mass information" under Article 5 of the Belarusian law on printing and "offenses the state officials and citizens of the Russian Federation." The chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet called Lukashenko a dictator who follows Hitler's principles. The opposition leader also mentioned that Lukashenko's tenure in office officially expired on July 20, 1999.

The newspaper intends to appeal the warning in court. According to the Article 16 of the Belarusian media law, a newspaper may be closed after receiving two warnings within a year. This was Nasha Niva's second warning. The first one was received for publishing a letter of Tatyana Sudzilovskaya "I envy Chechnya," which, according to the State Press Committee "stirs up national hatred." The author of the letter wrote that she envies Chechen people who fight for their freedom and hates Russians who want to deprive Belarus of its independence. On May 11, the Supreme Economic Court upheld the first warning. In an interview to the Nasha Svaboda independent newspaper, Andrei Dynko, Nasha Niva's editor-in-chief, said that "if Tatyana Sudzilovskaya wrote an article 'I hate Americans' or 'I envy Russia,' it would not attract any attention from the authorities. But Lukashenko's desire to reunite Belarus with Russia without asking the opinion of his own compatriots create a situation like this one," Dynko said. "At the same time, no one cares that anti-Semitic literature is on sale at every book store," he added. (Nasha Svaboda, May 16)

ASSOCIATION OF YOUNG POLITICIANS DENIED RE-REGISTRATION
On May 17, the Belarusian Association of Young Politicians was officially informed about the Ministry of Justice's decision to deny its request for re-registration on the grounds that the organization's by-laws envisage its interference in the activities of the state institutions. "Apart from that," the Ministry's officials wrote, "the BAYP's name and goals do not fully correspond to the character of its activities." In an interview to a Belapan correspondent, Alexander Tsynkevich, the newly appointed BAYP chairman [earlier the organization was headed by Anatoly Lebedko, chairman of the 13th Supreme Soviet's Commission on Foreign Affairs and newly elected chairman of the United Civil Party.- Ed.], said that last July the organization was refused registration. In August 1999, the organization re-applied for registration under a different name, but also unsuccessfully. On March 24, 2000, the organization's leadership applied for registration one more time, but its application was turned down again. Existing legislation sattes that the Ministry of Justice has to consider the application within one month, although the BAYP had been waiting for the written confirmation of denial for almost two months. The organization plans to appeal the Ministry's decision in court. (Belapan, May 18)

BPF SOIM HOLDS SESSION IN MINSK
On May 13-14, the Soim [governing body] of the Belarusian Popular Front Adradzhenne held a session in Minsk to discuss the results of the Spring 2000 protest campaign and organization's participation in the All-Belarusian Congress, the BPF press service informed the League. In his address to the Soim, BPF Chairman Vintsuk Viachorka said that the increasing number of Belarusians participating in the actions organized by the opposition indicates a new stage in the development of the democratic movement in the country. The Soim appealed to the Organizing Committee of the All-Belarusian Congress, planned as a gathering of supporters of Belarusian independence, to hold an enlarged session in June or July in order to discuss program documents of the Congress and to schedule the gathering itself for autumn. The delegates also discussed the current situation with regards to the trade union movement. They condemned the recent attempt of Mikhail Myasnikovich, head of the Presidential Administration, to take under control an annual meeting of the Belarusian Federation of Trade Unions. They urged the Lukashenko regime to cease its violation of the rights of members of the Independent Trade Union of Belarus. "The authorities do not like the idea of the Union's independence and absence of governmental control over its activities," reads a statement adopted by the Soim. The statement stresses that the regime creates numerous barriers for workers and trade unions to exercise their rights. The delegates supported the initiative of Oleg Trusov, chairman of the Francisk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society, to demand classes with instruction in Belarusian in schools and universities. (BPF press service, May 14)

DEMOCRATIC TRADE UNIONS DEMAND SANCTIONS AGAINST REGIME
On May 17, the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions appealed to foreign states and international organizations to impose political and economic sanctions against the Lukashenko regime. "BCDTU is calling upon the world community, the European Parliament, the U.S. Congress, and the ILO to impose political and economic sanctions against Belarus, as well as exert all possible means of pressure on its ruling regime, in order to make it respect human rights and comply with international law," reads a statement issued by the Congress. In March, Valery Tsepkalo, Belarusian Ambassador to the U.S., was notified that in connection with the crackdown on peaceful dissent on March 25 the U.S. plans to deprive Belarus of its GSP status (see Belarus Update Vol.3, No.14, 15). The Generalized System of Preferences is a trade status which can be removed when a country is shown to have a systematic practice of suppressing trade union movements and workers' rights, as well as other human rights. The U.S. Generalized System of Preferences was created to encourage the economic development of poor countries by lowering or waiving tariffs on certain exports from developing countries into the United States. Cancellation of Belarus' status was initiated by the Federation of American Trade Unions. The petition has been submitted for President Clinton's consideration. (Charter 97, May 18)

--RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN BELARUS--

ANOTHER SCANDAL IN CASE OF FATHER KOROLYAK
There has been another development in the case of Father Zbigniew Korolyak, a Roman Catholic priest from Poland who has been working in the church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Brest for the past nine years and has been ordered by the Belarusian authorities to leave the country on the grounds that his pastoral work is illegal (see Belarus Update Vol.3, No.13, 16, 17, 20). At a meeting with representatives from the Brest administration, the parishioners were reportedly told that Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek, the head of the Catholic Church in Belarus, has agreed with Korolyak's deportation from Belarus by June 1 and signed an appropriate document as did Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Zametalin. The Cardinal denies this allegation, reports the Baltic Interconfessional Association. (BIA, May 18)

--AT HOME IN BELARUS--

FORMER LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT VISITS BELARUS
On May 11, at a special award ceremony at the International Educational Center in Minsk, Algirdas Brazauskas, former president of Lithuania, accepted an honorary doctorate degree in political science from the European University of Humanities, the Belaruskaya Delovaya gazeta reported. After the ceremony, Brazauskas delivered a lecture on the current political and economic situation in Lithuania. He also had a meeting with Alexander Lukashenko. [Before becoming a president, Brazauskas was a second secretary of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party. - Ed.] Brazauskas did not elaborate on the results of the meeting and mentioned briefly that the main topics of their talks were border demarcation and this year parliamentary election in Belarus and Lithuania. "We did not talk about bad things," Brazauskas joked. He shared with the reporters his desire to return to active political life and participate in the forthcoming election to the Lithuanian parliament. (Belaruskaya Delovaya gazeta, May 16)

ISRAEL CLOSES ITS EMBASSY FEARING RADIATION
On May 18, Israel evacuated its embassy personnel in Belarus and sent its staff home to Jerusalem for medical checks over fears of radioactivity from forest fires near the Chernobyl nuclear power station. The Belarusian authorities insisted that fires raging across peat bogs polluted by fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster posed no threat. The Belarussian Foreign Ministry said the embassy would resume normal work next week. (Belapan, May 19)

--BROTHER SLAVS--

RUSSIA, BELARUS AGREE ON SINGLE CURRENCY
The heads of the central banks of Russia and Belarus, have agreed on a single currency with a single printing center, Yuri Vlaskin, head of the department for external economic relations of the Belarusian National bank, told Reuters. The union treaty envisages establishing by 2005 harmonized national legislation, uniform customs, tax, defense and border policies, a common securities market and a single currency. Cash-strapped Belarus, saddled with a sinking economy and fragile currency, has embraced the idea of a single currency with its economically stronger neighbor but until now opposed a single monetary center. Both the move to a single currency and single monetary center would require changes to the constitutions of both countries. Belarus expected its ruble to be tied loosely to the Russian ruble by autumn 2000. (Reuters, May 16)

LUKASHENKO BLAMES MOSCOW FOR HIGH ENERGY PRICES, TRADE BARRIERS
On May 19, Alexander Lukashenko accused Russia of not fulfilling its obligations under the union treaty by maintaining high energy prices and imposing trade barriers. "If you do not accept our goods, there will be no political or economic union," Lukashenko told the delegates of the 15th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union. The Belarusian leader also accused Russia of violating its customs union with Belarus by introducing double taxation of Belarusian exports and erecting new customs posts. He blamed Moscow for growing the disillusion among Belarusians toward the merger idea. Lukashenko said only 50 percent of his compatriots now backed the planned union, compared to 90 percent in recent years. Last December, he and then-president Boris Yeltsin agreed to establish lower prices for Russian energy exports to Belarus and to remove all trade barriers. But Russia's new president Vladimir Putin has recently made clear that relations would now be more pragmatic. He said the planned merger was impossible without serious market reforms in Belarus, which has shied away from many of the changes already under way in Russia. Russian energy supplies currently account for up to 70 percent of the cost of Belarusian exports - made up mostly of inexpensive refrigerators, trucks, tractors and televisions. Belarus owes about $500 million for Russian gas and electricity. (Reuters, May 19)

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The Belarus Update is a regular news bulletin of the Belarus Human Rights Support Project of the International League for Human Rights. The League, now in its 59th year, is New York-based human rights NGO in consultative status with the United Nations and ILO.

The Belarus project was established to support Belarusian citizens in making their cases before the U.S. government and public and international fora and intergovernmental organizations regarding Alexander Lukashenko's wholesale assault on human rights and the rule of law in Belarus.

For more information e-mail belarus@ilhr.org or call (212) 684-1221 or fax (212) 684-1696 or visit our web site at www.ilhr.org

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