Forsal: Minsk tells tall tales to IMF

Poland is sure the Belarusian authorities have little chance of getting a loan from the IMF.

Though all previous privatisation campaigns failed, Minsk continues to make new attempts. Belarusians don't trust the authorities any more and sell unstable Belarusian rubles, Polish economic website Forsal.pl reports.

In its efforts to receive western money Belarus resumes the old rhetoric counting on acceleration of privatisation. Minsk races against time while people fear a new devaluation of the national currency.

The more the authorities assure that no devaluation is possible, the less ordinary Belarusians believe them. People exchange rubles for dollars and euros. The proportion of foreign currency deposits of individuals rose from 62% to 66% from July 1 to October 1. Belarusians bought foreign currency worth 320 million dollars only in September. The fall of the national currency affects its stability. The Belarusian ruble has never been so weak.

One dollar costs 9,170 rubles now, which is 7% more than at the beginning of the year. It's a slight growth, but economists say it resembles the situation two years ago, when attempts to delay the devaluation led to imbalance in the currency market and a rush to currency exchange offices. The government had to adjust the exchange rate increasing it daily from 5,712 to 8,680 rubles per dollar. Even the pro-governmental newspaper Respublika remembers it however laying the blame on the problems with the US federal budget.

In this situation Minsk begins to apply for foreign aid that supposes receiving a loan from Russia-controlled Anti-Crisis Fund of the Eurasian Economic Community (ACF) or from the International Monetary Fund. The first variant is easier, but it will doom Minsk to further dependence on the Kremlin. The second variant implies carrying out real reforms. Delegations of both organisations are expected to visit the Belarusian capital by the end of the month. Belarus counts more on the IMF loan. Minsk already cooperated with this organisation. Belarus received 3.5bn dollars in 2009-2010 from this source and simplified customs procedures, reduced taxes and simplified company registration procedures.

Some promises can be heard now. Deputy minister of economy Dzmitry Halukhou, who belongs to a group of young educated technocrates, spoke about changes in priorities of state-owned companies from quantity to quality of production. It would be a revolution, because the country's industrial giants still work by the Soviet rule “the more. the better”.

In other words, two new refrigerators with defects cost more than one fridge that works well. The Belarusian authorities published a list of 85 companies ready for privatisation. Among them are the Mozyr oil refinery and the BATE plant, the owner of the same-named football club. However, all previous privatisation campaigns failed due to lack of western investments.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Lukashenka: USA was created by freedom-loving bandits

The US was created by bandits who thought only about their purses.

He made this statement at a meeting with students of Arkadz Kuliashou Mahilou State University, Rosbalt news agency reports.

“This country, America, is perhaps slightly more than 300 years old. You know what a nation it is. You know how it was formed,” Lukashenka said. By America the graduate of Mahilou Pedagogical Institute (now university) probably means the USA rather than the continent.

Lukashenka said the western countries often criticised him and he sometimes regretted his critical remarks addressing his critics. He recalled, in particular, his recent remarks about US president Barack Obama, whom he called a descendant of former black slaves obsessed with the idea of exceptionalism of the American nation and imposing his will on the rest of the world. “You know who crossed the ocean. They were bandits, but they loved freedom. They didn't want to know anything except for their purses. They only wanted to go to a bank (or where they go in such cases) and take money to build a house and something around the house,” Lukashenka said about the European settlers who founded the USA.

He added that about 50 million people in the US “are dying in a ditch” without medical aid. This terrible social injustice is impossible in post-Soviet Belarus, the head of state is sure. He reminds that the US authorities don't care about social problems, including the healthcare reform proposed by Obama. Speaking about the reform that provoked disputes in the US Congress Lukashenka said: “Obama raised this question about medical aid to over 50 million of Americans dying in a ditch, because no one will come to you if you are ill. He said the right thing about health insurances. Did it pass? No, it didn't.”

We remind that Aliaksandr Lukashenka mentioned “slave roots” of the American president commenting on the US policy towards Syria in early October: “Obama surprises me. Not so long ago black people were slaves in America, and now they talk about some kind of exceptionalism. I never thought that a person, who originated from these poor groups, would be able to use such rhetoric in the world. This is inadmissible and extremely dangerous.”

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Lukashenka: European home is bursting at the seams

Despite globalization future belongs to sovereign states and individual nations.

Lukashenka made the statement as he met with students of the Mogilev State A. Kuleshov University on 17 October, BelTA has learned.

In his speech the head of state remarked that the mankind is living through a global shift of civilizations. The laws of social relations and moral standards that once looked unshakable gradually lose their power. “The information revolution has disintegrated all the space and time barriers. Economic processes across the globe reached a supranational level a long time ago. The man now can reproduce the greatest of all secrets – the birth of life – and can clone living beings,” he said.

The globalization of manufacturing and capital entails very serious transformations in the spiritual sphere. “We see centuries of moral foundations gradually crumble. We see moral anomalies become standards. National and cultural differences between nations disappear. A global English-language neoculture based on American standards and examples is born,” noted the head of state.

“The question most often asked today is whether sovereign states, individual nations and peoples will be able to survive for a long time in the modern world or whether they will have to become a thing of the past?” added Lukashenka.

He remarked that the road of the Belarusians towards statehood had been long. “The independent state of our own gives us freedom and freedom is what every person and every nation strives for, freedom to live in our own God-given land, freedom to choose our own way, freedom to honor our own traditions, our past, freedom to control our present and build our future,” said the head of state.

Lukashenka pointed out that “even in the so-called united Europe the desire of nations to attain self-determination has not waned”. As an example he mentioned Scotland, Belgium, and Spanish Catalonia. “Virtually no European country is satisfied with results of the construction of the common European home, which, as everyone knows, is bursting at the seams,” he said.

“This is why from the point of view of individual nations and sovereign states I may call myself a historical optimist,” noted Alexander Lukashenko. “Despite all kinds of globalization the notions of Motherland, Fatherland, the independence of one’s own land is still strong from my point of view”.

“Belarus has existed at the crossroads of Eastern and Western traditions for centuries and has accumulated unique spiritual experience. Our national idea is peace, accord, mutual aid in our large united family named the Belarusian people. We are accustomed to earning our living in our own land. We are kind-hearted to everyone, who lives alongside us and who comes with peace,” stressed Lukashenka.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Zmitser Dashkevich threatened with new jail term

A former political prisoner can be thrown behind bars for any violation of the rules of police supervision.
“I had to re-register yesterday from the Zavadzki district to the Pershamaiski district. I took the necessary documents in the Zavadski district police station and came to the Pershamaiski district. I talked to a police officer responsible for supervision. I told him about the police supervision in the Zavadski district. It's like a circus: they come to you at 20:02 for a check and say you'll go to jail if you are late two times more. The policeman said officers of the Pershmaiski district department don't do such things,” the politician noted.

Zmitser Dashkevich stressed when he talked to the chief officers of the supervision office, they said they had the right to check on him 30 seconds after 20:00 and even in the middle of the night with a special task group.

“I don't understand why they organise these provocations and threaten me with a jail term for being late for 30 seconds. I am going to apply to a prosecutor's office asking to talk to them or at least teach them to speak in a polite manner. I think a probability of violating the rules of police supervision is rather high,” the former political prisoner said.

Zmitser Dashkevich, 32, was released from Hrodna priosn N. 1 on August 28. He spent 986 days in prison on accusations of “malicious hooliganism”.

He and Young Front activist Eduard Lobau were detained in Minsk on December 18, 2010, a day before the presidential election. They were accused of beating two Minsk residents. The Young Front activists pleaded not guilty and said they didn't know the alleged victims, but the Maskouski district court found both guilty of malicious hooliganism on March 24, 2011. Dashkevich was sentenced to 2 years in a minimum security correctional colony; Lobau was given four years in a medium security correctional colony. On August 28, 2012, Dashkevich received an additional year in prison for “persistent failure to obey orders of prison officers”.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Assad thanks Lukashenka for support

In an interview to the ONT TV Channel Prime Minister of Syria Wael al-Halqi expressed gratitude to the Belarusian people and the country’s authority for provided support.

“I would like to thank Belarus for support, for standing together with Russia and giving a helping hand during the most difficult times for our country. On behalf of President of Syria Bashar Assad I express gratitude to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenka for his stance in the issue. As for the situation in Syria, I would like to stress that there is no civil war here. Our army and people are fighting against international terrorism,” Wael al-Halqi said.

He emphasized that Syria pursues an open policy: “International observers can visit any facility they would like to. We are ready to get rid of chemical weapons within the agreement we are accomplishing. But the question is who are in the opposition. Those who seek to establish caliphate and follow the Shariat laws, those who cannot find common ground, those who do not think about the future of the motherland. Our official position is clear – we are for peace and freedom. We are ready for talks in order to put a stop to this chaos.”

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Lukashenka tells Kolia about Stalin and Hitler every evening

One can only feel sorry for poor Kolia.

The ruler said at a press conference for Russian journalists what bedtime stories he told his youngest son,” Interfax news agency reports.

“Every night when I get the kid to bed he says to me: 'Well, I cannot watch TV, but you must tell me a story. About war again?' – 'About war again.' I don't have stories any more. I have to tell stories about war every night. About Stalin, about Hitler, how they planned the operation. The kid, a third grader, wants stories about war all the year,” Lukashenka said.

The ruler said though his first degree was in history, he didn't know what to tell his son more, because of Kolia's keen interest in history.

“I started to tell him about the war with Napoleon, about the battle of Borodino, how they (the French troops – Interfax) were retreating. We fly in a helicopter over the Berezina River and I tell him about the French army: they drowned there, bridges were burnt and so on,” the ruler continued.

He underlined that the young generation should always hear about the Great Patriotic War.

“We need to preserve the memory (about the Great Patriotic War). The older generation – you and me – should not only commemorate our Victory, but also bring up our children and grandchildren telling them about the war,” Lukashenka said.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Three Belarusian political prisoners shortlisted for Sakharov Prize

The European Parliament is expected to announce the winner today.

Ales Bialiatski, Eduard Lobau and Mikalai Statkevich are among shortlisted candidates.

Other finalists are former CIA employee Edward Snowden and 15-year-old Pakistani campaigner for women's rights Malala Yousafzai, who was shot and seriously wounded by Taliban gunmen in 2012.

The shortlisted finalists for the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2013 were selected by the EP Foreign Affairs and Development committees and the Subcommittee on Human Rights at a meeting on Monday.

The laureate will be announced today by Parliament's Conference of Presidents in Strasbourg and invited to the award ceremony on 20 November, also in Strasbourg.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Case over Zakharanka's disappearance extended for 3 months

The Investigation Committee again extended the case over disappearance of an opposition politician.
“I received a letter from the Investigation Committee saying that the case over the disappearance of Yury Zakharnka was extended for three months until December 24, 2013. This is a standard reply. I'd like to turn attention to a transcript of interrogation of photo journalist Uladzimir Karmilkin in this case,” the lawyer said.

The human rights defender added that he had received the transcript about five years ago, but the document was still interesting.

“It follows from the document that Yury dropped in on the journalist two or three hours before the disappearance. The general was worrying. He came to the window several times and said someone was watching him. Karmilkin heard next morning that Zakharanka disappeared. He went to the scene of the incident and took some photos. Yury's car was there, but he wasn't inside. A witness confirmed that the general was under surveillance and his disappearance wasn't a coincident. It should be noted that the investigation as carried out by Sviatlana Baikova, who was later sentenced to a prison term for abuse of power,” Aleh Vouchak stressed.

We remind that General Yury Zakharanka disappearance on May 7, 1999. Officially, it happened on Zhukovski Street in Minsk. He was abducted by “unidentified persons” and taken away in a car in an unknown direction. A criminal case over the disappearance of the former minister of defence was initiated only on September 17, 1999, under article 101 of the Criminal Code. Witnesses of the abduction, who were found not by investigators, but by a public commission on searching for the missing general, say Zakharanka was forcefully taken away by several men.

Many people in Belarus and in the world think he was abducted for political reasons and possibly killed. The Belarusian authorities say the investigation is not completed, so reasons for Zakharanka's disappearance and his fate remain unknown.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Purses of Lukashenka may be crossed off EU’s black list

The list of the accomplices to the Belarusian dictator, banned from entering the EU, may be shortened already in the near future.

The information with a reference to reliable sources in Brussels came from the co-chairman of the organizational committee for the creation of the party Belarusian Christian Democracy Vital Rymasheuski as he gave an interview to the charter97.org web-site.

“The shortening of the list of regime representatives, banned from entering the European Union countries, is being prepared. First of all it is the matter of oligarchs. A number of positive articles in independent media, in which they have been lately often pictured as successful businessmen, and which do not say that they have achieved their success due to connections with the authorities, - is only a part of the work being carried out in that direction. The oligarchs are the first candidates to be crossed off the list also for the reason that they are actively using European courts to get the sanctions lifted. Politicians, in their turn, must take this into account. I would like to emphasize that this decision depends not only on the European Commission, but on the authorities of the EU member states”, - the politician claimed.

Vital Rymasheuski noted that he deemed it incorrect that the sanctions list may probably be shortened.

“Until political prisoners are released, one should not speak of cancelling the sanctions against any of Belarusian officials and oligarchs. This would be an incorrect step”.

We would remind that in the European Union’s black list there are now three Belarusian businessmen – Uladzimir Piefcieu, Jury Chyzh and Anatol Ciarnauski. The sanctions against them were introduced due to their support, including financial, to the Lukashenka regime and the repressions against the opposition that it carries out.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

KGB's car fleet: Porsche Cayenne, Chevrolet Tahoe and BMW X6

The KGB announced an action on the state procurement website.

The State Security Committee looks for car parts dealers. The list of required car parts allows to conclude what cars the KGB has or at least what KGB cars need to be repaired, Belsat TV channel reports.

A request for tender was put out by the state organisation “Special Purpose Motor Pool of the KGB of the Republic of Belarus”. The estimated cost of purchases is 1 billion Belarusian rubles.

The request mentions some rather new expensive cars, for example a 2010 BMW X6 crossover with a 4.4-litre engine. The vehicle doesn't have off-road capabilities, so it cannot be used for work in tough driving conditions. BMW positioned the vehicle as a “sports activity coupe”.

The KGB also has a real SUV in its car fleet – a Cadillac Escalade with a 6-litre engine, Though being rather old (2001), this model belongs to luxury cars that remain expensive for many years. There are two classic American cars – a Chevrolet Tahoe (2008) and a Chevrolet Suburban – the largest American SUV, the model that Obama has in the presidential motorcade. The KGB also has the legendary Jeep Cherokee (1995), the model popular among post-Soviet bandits in the late 1990s.

Among other KGB vehicles are a Lexus GX 470, a Lexus RX 330 and a Porsche Cayenne that cannot be called unnoticeable.

Besides luxury cars, requests for tender mention more democratic models: some Opels (produced in 2000), about ten Volkswagens and four Fords.

The KGB also owns Russian cars – some Volga and VAZ vehicles.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Viktar Ivashkevich dies

Viktar Ivashkevich, a Belarusian politician and activist, died at hospital in Minsk.

A co-founder of the Belarusian Popular Front, coordinator of the civil campaign European Belarus and member of the organising committee of the Belarusian Movement party died after a long disease. He was on a waiting list for a liver transplant, but a donor wasn't found.
Viktar Ivashkevich was born in Minsk on September 21, 1959. He graduated from the extramural department of the Faculty of Journalism at Belarusian State University in 1991.

In the early 1980s, he was an active participant of informal youth national-democratic oganisations Maistrounia and Talaka, a talented organiser of rallies, including a march on the Daugava River against construction of the Daugavpils hydroelectric power station, an ecological march on the Prypiat River (which became one of the first Chernobyl rallies), a strike of bus drivers in Minsk. He also initiated opening strike committees on Minsk plants.

He was an activist of the committee to create the Belarusian Popular Front in 1988 and remained the secretary of the BPF Council until 1996. The politician was among organisers of the biggest protest rallies.

Viktar Ivashkevich has been the editor-in-chief of Rabochiy newspaper since 1997 and the vice president of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions since 1999. The politician was sentenced to 2 years in a special detention facility in 2002 for his article about Lukashenka “Thief must be in prison”.

He was an active member of Andrei Sannikov's team during the 2010 presidential election.

Viktar Ivashkevich received numerous administrative sanctions and was on hunger strike two times.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Lukashenka insulted Barack Obama

The Belarusian dictator made a racist remark about Barack Obama.

Lukashenka claimed that he deemed inadmissible the policy of the US leadership, which grounds the intervention into domestic affairs of other countries on the “right of exclusivity” of the American nation, Interfax reports.

He stated that in Minsk when giving an interview to a Kazakh TV channel 24KZ on the eve of his official visit to Astana.

“Look what they went as far as to say. The American nation, and I, as a historian, cannot understand what kind of a nation that is, has appropriated the right for the exclusivity of some kind. We have experienced this kind of exclusivity in the middle of last century, is cost 50 million lives”, - Lukashenka claimed.

The Belarusian ruler noted that “it is, to put it mildly, counterproductive to assign some exclusivity to yourself and substantiate the bombings of other states on that”. “This is very bad, as Putin rightly said, that this exclusivity is driven into the heads of Americans. They start, like it happened in Germany at some point, thinking that they are a special race, special exclusivity, and we (the USA) must put the world in order and fit everyone into our standards”, - he claimed.

“Obama surprises me. Not so long ago black people were slaves in America, and now they claim some exclusivity. I never thought that a person, who originated from these poor groups, would be able to use such rhetoric in the world. This is inadmissible and extremely dangerous. By the way, it seems like our and your, and Russian democrats do not notice that…”, - he said.

Lukashenka also warned the US administration against a military intervention in Syria, having claimed that in that case “it will be so bad for everyone that they will wish it had never happened”.

“This will not end well. God forbid the Americans go there, like they went to Libya, and start bombing, it will be a catastrophe. When all the Arab arc flares up, they will wish it had never happened. Because Iran too will be involved in the conflict and other states, it will be very hot”, - Lukashenka claimed.

The Belarusian ruler noted that he thought of the war in Syria “extremely negatively not only as a president, but as a person”. “That is why we are very active on this issue, we openly express our position”, - Lukashenka said, having added that the Belarusian party in this case positions itself in the vein of the Russian policy. “We are categorically against that even a superpower intervened into the domestic affairs of this or that state under whatever slogans, killed, hanged the presidents. How many thousands of people were killed? What kind of democracy is that?” - he claimed.

He reminded that he has had “long-standing relations with Syria from the times of Hafez Assad”. “We are good friends with his son – the current president Bashar Assad. This is a very intelligent and decent person, very kind person”, - Lukashenka said.

We would remind that the authorities of the Western states repeatedly spoke of the possibility of a foreign military intervention in the case Damascus uses chemical weapon in the course of the civil war that had broken out in Syria in 2011. After the attack on 21 August, the victims to which fell some 1500 people, the USA claimed the intention to use military force against the Assad regime. The issue is currently being considered by the Congress. In the meanwhile official Damascus puts the blame for what happened on the rebels. The conclusions of the UN experts, who have inspected the site of the attack, have not yet been published.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau