Belarus.

[TsarSamuil]

Lukashenko suggests encouraging birth rate in Belarus.

27.10.2010 09:04

MINSK, 27 October (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko believes it is necessary to encourage birth rate in the country. The head of state focused on the issue in a session on the state and prospects of the development of cancer care facilities in Belarus on 26 October.

“If we do not stimulate birth rate, we will have no prospects as a state,” the president said.

“That is why we will focus on this issue. Maximum preferences will be given to families with three children,” the head of state said. In particular he mentioned a free apartment for such a family. Apart from that large families will be eligible to other preferences, too.

“Families with many children should receive benefits depending on their income. Children’s allowances should be also relevant,” the president believes.

[TsarSamuil]

Lukashenko: Immense opportunities for tighter Belarus-Poland cooperation.

04.11.2010 17:17

MINSK, 4 November (BelTA) – Belarus and Poland have immense opportunities for promoting tighter cooperation, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko told Polish mass media in an interview on 4 November.

“The time of lost opportunities is over. Certainly, we could have tighter relations despite the fact that you are in the European Union and are restricted by EU regulations to a large extent. Nevertheless, we have a large area to channel our efforts into,” said Alexander Lukashenko.

“It doesn’t matter that we don’t have some specific political agreements. It doesn’t matter that we have some discord and allusions at the level of civil servants. The border between Belarus and Poland is not a wall,” said the President. Alexander Lukashenko added that the countries cooperate very vigorously.

Alexander Lukashenko remarked that he has great hopes for Poland’s new leadership. “I hope that the man will pursue a principled policy and will see things the way they are,” said the Belarusian head of state. Addressing the Polish reporters, Alexander Lukashenko also added: “I would like you to shape your policy towards Belarus not only by receiving information from the opposition but also by personal visits and first-hand experience”.

[TsarSamuil]

Lukashenko fires new jibes at Russia.

RT.com
08 November, 2010, 16:58

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has yet again pounced upon Moscow. This time, he is accusing his neighbor of doing everything possible to make him lose the presidential vote on December 19.

"This is true: they are doing everything to make me lose the election," Lukashenko stated in an interview with Polish media, cited Interfax.

And that is not the only sin that Russia is accused of. According to Belarus’ long-standing leader, Moscow is also to be blamed for ruining the union agreement between the two countries, as well as an attempt to lay their hands on Belarusian enterprises.

He recalled that Russia and Belarus were to hold a referendum on the constitution of the Union, which would define the way things would work within it. But Moscow, Lukashenko stated, did not want to do that and “mucked up” the Union agreement. Russia’s offer to introduce a single currency for the union was one of the main stumbling blocks.

“Why should we start building a house from the roof?” is how the Belarusian leader explained Minsk’s unwillingness to support the idea.

Continuing his attack against the Kremlin, Lukashenko added that Russia could see only its economic co-operation with the former Soviet Republic as "free privatization of what there is in Belarus".

"They are trying to bend: a president not like Lukashenko should be more co-operative malleable here," he said. "But our people are not going to accept that kind [of a president]. You [another president] will be tested along the lines of Lukashenko," he added.

Belarus’ long-time leader feels quite confident and still comfortable in the presidential chair, which he has occupied for 16 years now and does not want to leave.

Commenting on the Polish journalists’ remarks that in Europe it would not be possible to remain in the post for that long, he was quite clear. “That’s your problem,” he said, adding that in Belarus and in Russia it is possible. When the Polish journalists recalled that Vladimir Putin is not the President of Russia, Lukashenko responded with a sarcastic joke: “Really? Who is [the president] then?”

The Russian-Belarus information war has been going on for quite a while now. Back in October, following yet another round of political pinches, President Dmitry Medvedev said in his video blog that “President Lukashenko’s utterances not only go beyond all diplomatic sense, they are downright indecent.”

However, it seems, Lukashenko is not preparing to stop, and is ready to stake his all before the election.

His three-hour long interview with the Polish media came as a follow-up to the German and Polish foreign ministers’ trip to Minsk last week. While promising Belarus their backing, the European partners stressed that Belarus can only expect their support if the country holds democratic elections. Lukashenko did not hesitate to promise that this would certainly be the case and “elections will be held in compliance with the highest democratic standards.”

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he would hold Lukashenko to his word.

Natalia Makarova, RT

[boroslav]

It tells a lot about him, when Russia wants his opponent to be president of Belarus.

[TsarSamuil]

Kusturica praises 'original style' of Belarusian rule.

Prominent Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica said on Tuesday that he likes the style of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's rule.

"The president is ruling the country with great respect and in an original way," Kusturica said at a meeting with Lukashenko, who will face his fourth presidential polls in December.

Kusturica, who is visiting the Listopad (Leaf Fall) film festival in Minsk, said Lukashenko holds the credit of not allowing the destruction of Belarus from outside.

"A system of destruction of small states, which is called shock therapy, exists today as large corporations come to a country and swallow it," Kusturica said. "But when you walk through the streets of Minsk, you see that this is not happening [in Belarus]."

Lukashenko awarded Kusturica with a prize "For the preservation and development of spiritual traditions in filmmaking" and invited the director to make a movie in Belarus.

Lukashenko said that Kusturica "cannot shoot bad films and may glorify both himself and the country."

He added that Kusturica could share his experience with Belarusian filmmakers.

Kusturica, who visited Minsk in 2008 with his "No Smoking Orchestra," will stay in the Belarusian capital until November 11 and hold a master class at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.

MINSK, November 9 (RIA Novosti)

[TsarSamuil]

Large infographic, Russia-Belarus Trade

en.rian.ru/images/16126/07/161260744.jpg

[boroslav]

Nov 10, 2010 9:34:57 GMT -5 TsarSamuil said:

Lukashenko said that Kusturica "cannot shoot bad films and may glorify both himself and the country."

Underground was his last movie I'd call worth watching.

[TsarSamuil]

Two Belarusian presidential candidates receive official warnings.

24.11.2010 12:04

MINSK, 24 November (BelTA) – Presidential candidate Vitaly Rymashevsky was given an official warning on 24 November. The warning states that appeals to stage unsanctioned public events in Minsk’s Oktyabrskaya Square are illegal, Pavel Rodionov, Head of the Department for Monitoring Legislative Execution and Legality of Legislative Acts of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Belarus, told media on 24 November.

An official warning was also issued to presidential candidate Nikolai Statkevich. He will receive the warning before midday. Earlier Nikolai Statkevich had been warned by the Prosecutor General’s Office of possible administrative measures for violating rules of holding public events. According to Pavel Rodionov, the presidential candidate urged voters to come to an unsanctioned meeting during his live address on a national TV channel. “The holding and staging of the meeting violate the Belarusian legislation,” Pavel Rodionov said.

The Central Election Commission of Belarus may undertake tougher measures and strip the presidential candidates of their status, the representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

[TsarSamuil]

Kremlin bankrolling Belarus opposition - Lukashenko.

Russia is throwing money behind Belarusian opposition candidates for the presidency, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday.

Asked in an interview with Le Figaro whether Russia is helping the Belarusian opposition, he said: "This is so, and we know it. We have evidence."

Lukashenko said he was open to cooperation with the opposition, but questioned their goals, suggesting they would do the nation no good.

"So far our so-called opposition has been acting according to the principle 'the worse, the better': the worse it is for the people, the better it is for them," he said.

"I am not prepared to cooperate on such terms not only with the opposition but... even with foreign states," he said.

"My goal is to make people's life better, not worse."

MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti)

[TsarSamuil]

Lukashenko urges Belarus to reject "dependence psychology" on Russia, West.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko urged his country to get rid of its "lackey psychology of dependence" on Russia and the West, in an address to an All-Belarusian national assembly in Minsk on Monday.

"Nobody will solve our problems or do our tasks - neither Moscow, nor Washington, nor Brussels! We should decisively reject the humiliating lackey psychology of dependence on somebody who is more powerful, and underestimation of our own capabilities," Lukashenko said.

"Belarus has proved capable of providing steady development and national security even in the most difficult external conditions," he added.

Lukashenko said Belarus had withstood the economic crisis with honor. "The country has not caved in [to the evil-wishers] in spite of the enormous pressure and massive intimidation coming from all sides."

"We have not allowed anybody to ruin the political and social stability we achieved," Lukashenko said.

Belarus has made a substantial turn for the better in its social and economic development, he claimed. "It is not a present from the Lord God and not the result of export of crude materials, but a result of hard work," he said.

MINSK, December 6 (RIA Novosti)

[TsarSamuil]

Embargo on protest gear ahead of elections, say opposition.

Minsk sport shops have been ordered to stop selling tents to keep protestors from camping out on Independence Square, the opposition claims ahead of Sunday’s presidential elections which look likely to hand President Alexander Lukashenko a fourth term in office.

“There are no tents. When they will reappear, I don’t know,” a sports shop salesman in Minsk’s central shopping complex told RIA Novosti.

Opposition leaders intend to protest if the 56-year-old incumbent extends his 16-year reign at the helm and some intend to camp out in central Minsk as they did for five days after the 2006 elections until they were dispersed by police.

“They are scared of the people’s protests and that is why they are preventing people from going out for lengthy protests in the square,” Yaroslav Romanchuk, an opposition candidate and deputy head of the United Civic Party, told RIA Novosti.

“That is why they intimidate and prevent people from going out, and portray opposition candidates as radicals and revolutionaries,” said Romanchuk.

Riot police vans were stationed round the corner from a calm demonstration on Thursday led by oppositionist Andrei Sannikov and poet-turned-politician Vladimir Nekliaev but did not interfere.

Lukashenko, the ex collective farm boss who has ruled Belarus since 1994, on Thursday belittled the weak nine candidate opposition who have not united as a single force as in 2006.

“Why does the opposition make provocations?” Lukashenko asked journalists on Thursday. “They need provocations. They understand perfectly well that for them these elections probably hold nothing for them, so they need provocations.”

Romanchuk says he will protest peacefully on Sunday alongside Sannikov and Nekliaev.

But analysts are not convinced they have the momentum to carry through ten-below temperatures with the approach of Christmas and New Year festivities. “I’m not sure how long the protests are going to stick around,” said Jana Kobzova, a Belarus expert for the Council for European Relations.

MINSK, December 17 (Tom Balmforth, RIA Novosti)

[TsarSamuil]

Sooo...much...gooold...Fort Belarus

-----------

Belarus President against devaluing national currency.

17.12.2010 14:54



MINSK, 17 December (BelTA) – There is no need to devalue the national currency, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko told media on 17 December.

When asked whether the Belarusian ruble may be devalued in early 2011, Alexander Lukashenko said, “It must be as old as time now. Smart people, who had some doubts, turned around after we endured people’s rush to exchange the national currency for foreign currency. We satisfied the demand. It should be noted that those, who have exchanged their money, have deposited the foreign currency back in banks. It is all the same for the government. People just did a silly thing but it was their right”.

In his words, once people saw that the government can satisfy the demand for foreign currency, the rush subsided. According to the Belarusian head of state, “Smart people noticed our agreements in Moscow” and the rush to get foreign currency completely stopped. “People understand that if the economy performs better, than the currency market will improve,” said Alexander Lukashenko.

Alexander Lukashenko said that he had been impressed by the central vault of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus. “We have enough reserves to manage the national currency market. You know those who raised the hype. The worse things are, the more they benefit. A very short period of time has shown the value of their claims”.

“I can repeat once again that we are in control of our destiny. There will be no problems if we live on without panic,” said the Belarusian head of state. He remarked that the country had everything to deal with problems. “What you see is only a third of the gold reserves. Two thirds are stored elsewhere. The same applies to foreign currency. We have sufficient gold and foreign exchange reserves, about $6-7 billion, in order to satisfy any demand for foreign currency. There is no need to devalue the national currency today,” stressed the Belarus President.

“It seems to me we have good prospects,” said the Belarusian head of state. Belarusians should not worry at all and look forward, he said.

[TsarSamuil]

Belarus' Lukashenko leads in presidential election with 72% - exit poll.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is leading in the presidential election in the ex-Soviet republic with 72% of the votes while his closest rival Andrei Sannikov is gaining only 6.33%, the results of an exit-poll showed on Sunday.

Sergei Musiyenko, head of the ECOOM analytical center, said the exit poll results were available as of 13:00 p.m. local time.

The poll was conducted at 100 polling stations and involved 4,431 electors, he said.

MINSK, December 19 (RIA Novosti)

[TsarSamuil]

Shouldn't Lukashenko, despite his faults, be Slavija's favorite leader? Putin & co showed their true face after the riots with comments that sound like they came out of a Western leader's mouth about multicultural society etc. respect muslims etc.

Belarus, seems to have a stable economy, and it's white, no or few immigrants, almost all are Slavic. Muslims there aren't recent immigrants n like Tatarstan don't have a high birthrate? I think.

Is Lukashenko's path what we should follow? While Belarus birthrate isn't high, there's no flow of immigrants that could change demographics n make Belarussians a minority in their own country.

[boroslav]

Some predict that Lukashenko is waiting to win the elections, and that he will start a big privatization campaign after that.

Up to this point he seems to be the better option compared with all others who rule Slavic countries.