VZCZCXRO5601
OO RUEHAST
DE RUEHSK #0514/01 1360603
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 160603Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4395
INFO RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000514 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR INR/B 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR BO
SUBJECT: LUKASHENKO'S NEW GOVERNMENT 
 
 
MINSK 00000514  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  President Aleksandr Lukashenko has formed a 
new government with a more streamlined organization and new 
directives relating to information media, energy, housing, 
construction, and trade.  New cabinet appointments included a 
new deputy prime minister and five new ministers: energy, 
information and information technology (IT), labor and social 
protection, health, and architecture and construction.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
New Appointments 
---------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On May 5 President Lukashenko signed ordinance no. 290 
to form a new government.  New cabinet appointments to the 
government include:  Viktor Burya as Deputy Prime Minister; 
Aleksandr Ozerets as Minister of Energy; Nikolai Pantelei as 
Minister of Information and IT; Vladmiir Potupchik as 
Minister of Labor and Social Protection; Vasily Zharko as 
Minister of Health; and Aleksandr Seleznev as Minister of 
Architecture and Construction.  Incumbents will remain in all 
other cabinet posts.  (See paragraphs 8 through 13 for 
biographical information on the new appointments.) 
 
New Directives to Cabinet 
------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Meanwhile, President Lukashenko and Prime Minister 
Sergei Sidorsky issued new directives to the ministries. On 
May 5, during the president's first meeting with his new 
cabinet, Lukashenko demanded that the government improve the 
quality of Belarusian newspapers, magazines, and broadcast 
programs.  He criticized the media for lacking the careful 
analysis and an ideological pivot necessary to counteract 
foreign information pressure.  Lukashenko was quoted, "State 
printing plants and publishing companies publish all that 
flows in." 
 
¶4. (U) Lukashenko directed the new energy minister, Aleksandr 
Ozerets, to upgrade Belarus' power generation system, raise 
energy efficiency, and increase consumption of local energy 
resources as part of an overall modernization program through 
the year 2010. The next day, Sidorsky directed the energy 
ministry to formulate proposals for development of Russian 
natural gas fields by Belarusian companies. 
 
¶5. (U) Regarding housing and construction, Lukashenko noted 
that more than 50 percent of all complaints received by the 
government relate to housing management.  He directed the 
housing ministry to cut costs and improve services. 
Lukashenko also criticized the construction ministry for 
shortages in cement and break stone and for failing to 
develop building materials companies.  He ordered more 
investment and innovation aimed at increasing domestic output 
of cement and other building materials. 
 
¶6. (U) In an effort to boost Belarus' foreign trade, 
Lukashenko ordered the new ministers to revamp the system of 
purchasing imported raw sugar which he claimed cost the state 
at least USD 60 million.  He also ordered the head of the 
Belarusian State Petrochemical Concern (Belneftekhim) to 
learn to how to sell Belarusian petrochemical products 
directly to consumers without middlemen distributors. He 
proposed modernizing petrochemical enterprises, particularly 
the artificial fiber plants in Mogilev and Svetlogorsk in 
Gomel region. 
 
¶7. (U) These new appointments and directives coincided with 
an organizational restructuring designed to streamline 
government.  This restructuring includes transforming the 
three-level government to two levels and reducing the number 
of agencies from 47 to 39. 
 
Biographical Information 
------------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) The new Deputy Prime Minister, Viktor Burya, served as 
deputy head of Minsk city government from 2004 to 2006, head 
of the Oktyabrsky district administration from 2000 to 2004, 
first deputy head of the Oktyabrsky district administration 
from 1998 to 2000, and deputy director general for 
construction at the electronic enterprise Integral from 1996 
to 1998. He was trained as a construction engineer at the 
Belarusian Polytechnic Institute, 1970-1975. Burya was born 
on June 8, 1953 in the town of Pestovo in Russia's Novgorod 
region. 
 
¶9. (U) Aleksandr Vladimirovich Ozerets replaces Aleksandr 
Ageyev as Minister of Energy. Mr. Ozerets most recently 
served as general director of Vitebskenergo, a subsidiary of 
 
MINSK 00000514  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
the state-run power generation and distribution company 
Belenergo in the Vitebsk region, for which he has worked 
since 1976.  He graduated from the Belarusian Polytechnic 
Institute in 1976 and the Management Academy of the BSSR 
Council of Ministers in 1993.  Mr. Ozerets was born on May 9, 
1953 in the village of Gorbatsevichi. 
 
¶10. (U) Nikolai Petrovich Pantelei replaces Vladimir 
Potupchik as Minister for Information and Information 
Technology. Mr. Pantelei served as First Deputy of the 
President of the Minsk City Executive Committee, 2005, Head 
of Administration of Oktyabrsky Region of Minsk, 2004-2005, 
First Deputy Head of Administration of Leninsky Region of 
Minsk, 2003-2004, and director of the Minsk Electric and 
Mechanical Factory, 1994-2003. He graduated from the Minsk 
Radio-Technical Institute in 1975. Pantelei was born in 1953 
in the village of Kostyuki. 
 
¶11. (U) Vladimir Nikolaevich Potupchik replaces Antonina 
Morova as Minister Labor and Social Protection. In 2004, Mr. 
Potupchik was named Assistant to the President of the 
Republic of Belarus and Main Inspector of the City of Minsk. 
From 2001 to 2004, he served as Deputy President of the 
Executive Committee of Gomel Region. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. 
Potupchik served as the President of the Committee for 
Economics and Market Relations of the Executive Committee of 
Gomel Region.  He graduated from the Belarusian Polytechnic 
Institute in 1980 and the Russian Academy of Governmental 
Service of the President of the Russian Federation in 2002. 
Mr. Potupchik was born in 1958 in the city of Svetlogorsk. 
 
¶12. (U) Aleksandr Ilich Seleznev replaces Gennadi Kurochki as 
Minister of Architecture and Construction.  In 2001, Mr. 
Seleznev was named a director of an organ of the Council of 
Ministers of the Republic of Belarus. From 1998 to 2001 he 
served as Deputy to the President of Executive Committee of 
Mogilev Region.  Between 1989 and 1998 he worked in 
engineering and administrative positions in the system for 
village construction. He graduated from Novopolotskyi 
Polytechnic Institute.  Mr. Seleznev was born in 1956 in 
Tukolski Zharkovski Region of Kalinsky Region of Russia. 
 
¶13. (U) Vasily Ivanovich Zharko replaces Viktor Rudenko as 
Minister of Health. Mr. Zharko was named General Secretary of 
the Belarusian Red Cross in 2005.  He previously served as 
general director of "Belprofsoyuzkurort," 2003-2005, and 
Deputy Chief Physician of the Brest Regional Children's 
Hospital, 2002-2003. Mr. Zharko graduated the Minsk State 
Medical Institute in 1984. 
 
¶14. (SBU) COMMENT: Since most incumbent ministers will remain 
in their posts, Lukashenko's "new government" is little more 
than a minor reshuffling of the old government.  Lukashenko's 
flurry of new directives appears at odds with his earlier 
claims that he would devolve more policymaking authority to 
the government.  Moreover, his statements underscore his 
Soviet-style approach and lack of understanding of market 
forces.  In any case, it is interesting to note that 
Lukashenko has yet to name Anatoly Tozik's replacement as 
head of the State Control Committee. 
 
Krol