A deputy Russian foreign minister said Thursday that the current crisis around Belarus should be resolved by means of dialogue in the Council of Europe.
Belarus was deprived of the status of a "specially invited" state to PACE after 1994 elections in the country, when Alexander Lukashenko was elected president. Belarus was discussed at PACE's January session, which labeled Lukashenko's regime "dictatorial."
"Russia is convinced that problems should be resolved through dialogue," Alexander Grushko said at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He said such issues could not be resolved by ultimatums.
The EU in April approved a ban on entry to the EU against 31 Belarusian officials, including Lukashenko, after presidential elections in the country in March were declared fraudulent by international observers and opposition leaders. The EU also decided in May to freeze the accounts of Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by Washington. //RIA Novosti
On June, 28 Beltelecom launched National center for data processing with special premises for hosting servers (the project was started a year ago).
Beltelecom's outer channel capacity of 1,5 Gbit/s, enables 1 Gbit/s outer gateway networking capacity. National Center for data processing can store data volume up to 4 terabyte. The Center is equipped with Hewlett-Packard servers and switchboards.
Beltelecom Center for data processing provides three types of hosting services: at virtual server, at physical server and collocation. Popular Belarusian portal TUT.by. has become the first client of National Center for data processing. //E-Belarus
The prime ministers of Russia and Belarus hold a bilateral meeting. "The most topical issues of cooperation" will be discussed during the meeting, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said opening the talks.
According to him, this bilateral meeting of the premiers traditionally precedes a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Russia-Belarus Union State. For his part, Belarussian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky noted that some issues that will be discussed at the meeting of the Council of Ministers would be also touched upon at the meeting. More than ten issues on the agenda of the meeting of the Council of Ministers "are concrete issues of the development of the State Union programmes," but other issues should be specified with due account of remarks made by experts.
Such topical issues of cooperation, as the price on Russian gas supplies in Belarus, the situation around sugar supplies from Belarus to Russia and the development of the Kaliningrad sea port may be discussed during the bilateral meeting of the premiers. These issues are expected not to be discussed at the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State. //Itar-Tass
Russia plans to export natural gas to Belarus in 2007 at about four times the current price, a deputy industry and energy minister said Monday.
Andrei Dementyev said in a letter to the lower chamber of parliament that the price would be around $180-200 per 1,000 cubic meters in comparison with current $46.68.
The deputy minister said the price would be calculated under the same formula as the price for natural gas deliveries to Ukraine, including a zero rate customs duties for Belarus. //RIA Novosti
Belarus suggested keeping the formation of the Customs Union and accession to the World Trade Organisation apart, Belarus vice premier Andrei Kobyakov told the press while summing up results of the EurAsEC Interstate Council sitting, which took place in Minsk on June 23.
For Belarus creating the Customs Union is a priority, he stressed. "It doesn't decrease the rate of progress towards EurAsEC member-states' accession to the World Trade Organisation. Every country should join the WTO using principles each country deems necessary and has agreed with partners in the future Customs Union".
According to the Belarusian side, after the WTO accession the creation of the Customs Union can be prolonged for an indefinite period of time due to EurAsEC's economic competitors not willing to face a strong integration bloc.
Presidents of the EurAsEC member-states confirmed the point of view at the Interstate Council sitting in Minsk on June 23. They also ordered to create the legislation base of the Customs Union by late 2006.
According to Andrei Kobyakov, "It does not mean the Customs Union will appear by the end of 2006, only the legislation base may". After that a certain period of time will be necessary to adopt the signed agreements with national laws. The agreements will make the core of the Customs Union legislation base. This period can be quite lengthy, stressed Andrei Kobyakov. However, it should be done "to set up the Customs Union in principle," he noted. //Pravo.By
It was unclear whether Bush or Rice held any such assets in Belarus, and U.S. Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.
The move came in response to Washington's decision last week to impose sanctions against Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and other senior officials that involve freezing all of his assets held in the U.S. and forbidding Americans from doing business with him, according to the AP.
The U.S. and the European Union introduced the sanctions against Lukashenko -often described by Western countries as "Europe's last dictator" -after he won a third term in March 19 elections deemed fraudulent by Western governments. //Pravda.Ru
A top Russian lawmaker said Wednesday Belarus and Russia would have no gas price difference if they formed a full-fledged union state.
"I am confident that if the union states becomes a reality, we will have no problems and differences regarding pries," Sergey Baburin, deputy speaker of Russia's State Duma, told reporters in Polastsk, Belapan news agency reported.
"I hope that a solution to this pretty vague situation will be found before the year end," Baburin said.
Baburin said the Russian Parliamentary Assembly would play its role in ensuring a flawless process.
"We will discuss matters that above all concern economy and the formation of our union state. We will think together how to make the union state more tangible, important for ordinary people in Belarus and Russia," Baburin said. //UPI
Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) intends to launch its brand in Belarus on June 27, 2006, the company's President Leonid Melamed told journalists today.
The company has been negotiating on increasing its stake in its Belarusian partner company to the controlling stake. Even though the company's Belarusian partner refused to sell his shares, an agreement was reached to launch MTS's new brand in the republic.
MTS is also considering introduction of the new brand to the Ukrainian market where Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC), the company's 99-percent subsidiary, operates. MTS will decide on this issue within the next two weeks. The company's new brand was introduced in Uzbekistan on June 15. The new umbrella brand of Sistema Group was presented on May 10, 2006. Rebranding Sistema's subsidiaries cost $4bn. //RBC
Belarus has scrapped plans to build Europe's second-tallest television tower.
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has described the planned 425 meter-high tower as having both economic and political significance, but Deputy Communications Minister Vladimir Teslyuk said no investor could be found to help fund the $170 million project.
Europe's tallest television tower is the Ostankino tower in Moscow. //RFERL
30 June 2006