Belarus identifies new enemy

A Belarusian TV channel has broadcast a report showing what it says are opposition activists training at “right-wing” Ukrainian military camps. The footage, aired on Belarus’s state-run Channel One, shows the activists training with UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian Self-Defence). It describes them as a dangerous group preparing a coup against the Belarusian president.

 

According to Belarus’s Channel One, the trainees were polishing their hostage-taking skills, attack strategies, as well as reconnaissance and camouflage techniques. 

The report said the camp is sponsored by the U.S. National Democratic Institute through its Kiev office, which has allocated $US 250,000 to the body since June 2007.

However, commentators doubt that this is enough money to train a paramilitary group capable of staging a coup in Belarus. 

It is not the first time Belarus’s state-run media have run features on opposition figures, often showing them in compromising situations in neighbouring countries. 

In 2005, Belarus security services said they discovered camps of opposition members in Lithuania, and in 2006 security officials said radicals were planning to forcefully overthrow the government.

 

Ratification Agreement Belarus-Russia

Dmitry Medvedev signed the Federal Law ‘On Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on Measures to Regulate Trade and Economic Cooperation in the Export of Oil and Petroleum Products’.

The agreement was signed in Moscow on January 12, 2007.

It sets out the mechanism for calculating customs duties in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and the conditions for exporting crude oil and petroleum products from Belarusian territory and the territory of third countries.  

Справка к Федеральному закону «О ратификации Соглашения между Правительством Российской Федерации и Правительством Республики Беларусь о мерах по урегулированию торгово-экономического сотрудничества в области экспорта нефти и нефтепродуктов»

www.kremlin.ru

Федеральным законом предусматривается ратификация Соглашения между Правительством Российской Федерации и Правительством Республики Беларусь о мерах по урегулированию торгово-экономического сотрудничества в области экспорта нефти и нефтепродуктов, подписанного в г.Москве 12 января 2007 года.

В соответствии с Соглашением нефть сырая, вывозимая из Российской Федерации в Республику Беларусь, облагается вывозной таможенной пошлиной. Определяется механизм расчета пошлины в 2007, 2008 и 2009 годах. Предусматривается, что при экспорте нефти сырой и нефтепродуктов с территории Республики Беларусь в третьи страны взимаются таможенные пошлины по ставкам, равным применяемым в Российской Федерации. В случае невыполнения Белорусской Стороной данного обязательства Российская Сторона применяет вывозные таможенные пошлины на нефть сырую и нефтепродукты, экспортируемые в Республику Беларусь, в полном объёме в соответствии с законодательством Российской Федерации.

US concerned about Putin appointment to Russia-Belarus post

International Herald Tribune The United States is concerned about a new sign of deepening ties between Belarus and Russia at a time of heightened tensions with both countries. On Tuesday, Russia and Belarus named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister of an alliance of the two neighbors. Officials and analysts in Washington say it is unclear whether the move is a step toward closer political union or a mere formality. But it comes as U.S.-Belarus relations have been in crisis. Belarus has protested U.S. sanctions aimed as punishment for its heavy-handed treatment of critics and intolerance of dissent. The standoff has led to the brink of cessation of diplomatic relations. While tensions have also flared periodically between Moscow and Minsk, the announcement could be a sign that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is seeking closer ties with Russia in the face of the U.S. sanctions, a bad local economy and greater domestic opposition. Karen Stewart, the U.S. ambassador to Belarus, told The Associated Press Tuesday, that the United States will be watching for signs that that the alliance is deepening. “We will have to wait and see what materializes,” she said. Stewart has been in Washington since March when she left Minsk under pressure from the Belarusian government. Her departure came after Belarus withdrew its ambassador to Washington. She said that the United States would object to any union between the two former Soviet republics, if their people were not given a say. “We have no objection to the integration of states as long as it is voluntary, as long as the people have been able to express their will and it is mutually beneficial and does not erect barriers to the wider community of nations,” she said. Belarus immediately downplayed the significance of Putin’s appointment, announced by the Belarusian and Russian presidential offices. The post — officially called the chairman of the union’s Council of Ministers — has been held by the Russian prime minister since 2000. The position was created in December 1999, along with the post of chairman of the Supreme State Council, which has been held since its creation by Lukashenko. Russia and Belarus signed an agreement in 1996 that envisaged close political, economic and military ties, but efforts to achieve a full merger have foundered. Structures of the alliance serve coordination purposes and have vague responsibilities. Lukashenko angrily rejected a Kremlin proposal in 2002 to incorporate his nation into Russia, and negotiations on strengthening the union have stalled. He has also sparred with Putin over Russian energy exports. Last year, he denounced Russia as a “huge monster” when Russia more than doubled the price of natural gas and imposed a customs duty that made oil more expensive. The new appointment follows Putin’s transition from president to prime minister earlier this month and the inauguration of his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev as the new president. Kremlin observers are watching for signs that Putin is trying to consolidate power in the new post. Before the transition, some observers had speculated that Putin might become the president of a new unified state of Russia and Belarus after he stepped down earlier this month after eight years as Russian president. That speculation ended when Putin made clear he intended to become prime minister. Many say that Russian politics are particularly hard to read at the moment, because the lines of authority between Putin and Medvedev are unclear. Lukashenko’s decision making is even more murky. “As Alice in Wonderland would say, “It’s getting curioser and curioser,” said Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Aron said Lukashenko may be warming to Russia under the pressure of a bad economy, combined with rising commodity prices and the U.S. sanctions. Russia has recently provided loans to Belarus, ostensibly to help it handle rising Russian energy prices. “I think it is in his interest in staying in power to do pretty much whatever Putin wants,” Aron said.