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R 221132Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4421
INFO RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000532 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY REPORT - May 19, 2006 
 
Ref: Minsk 459 
 
MINSK 00000532  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by 
Embassy Minsk. 
 
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International Relations 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  Lukashenko Receives Syrian Baath Party Official 
 
On May 18, Aleksandr Lukashenko told Abdullah al-Ahmar, assistant 
secretary general of Syria's governing Arab Socialist Renaissance 
 
SIPDIS 
(Baath) Party, that Belarus had good relations with the former 
Syrian president, Hafiz al-Assad, and has good relations with his 
son and successor, Bashar al-Assad.  Mr. Al-Ahmar thanked the 
Belarusian leader for the good words about his country's leadership 
and told Lukashenko, "We are always happy to be in your country 
within the framework of the good relations between our countries." 
Mr. al-Ahkmar and other officials of the Baath Party arrived in 
Minsk on May 17 on a three-day visit at the invitation of the 
Communist Party of Belarus (CPB). President Lukashenko visited 
Syria in March 1998 and in December 2003. 
 
¶3.  Lukashenko Makes Diplomatic Appointments 
 
On May 16, Aleksandr Lukashenko on Tuesday made several 
diplomatic appointments. The appointments include: Valery 
Brylev as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan; Vyacheslav Kachanov as 
ambassador to Bulgaria; Igor Leshchenya, former foreign policy 
adviser to the Presidential Administration, as ambassador to 
Israel; Nikolai Patskevich ambassador to Azerbaijan; and Ruslan 
Yesin as consul general in Gdansk, Poland. Lukashenko said that 
Mr. Leshchenya should focus attention on the Middle East region 
and maintain contacts with prominent Belarusian expatriates in 
Israel and that Mr. Patsekevich increase bilateral economic 
cooperation with Azerbaijan. According to Lukashenko, trade 
would be the main criterion for assessing the performance of 
the diplomats. 
 
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Post-Elections 
-------------- 
 
¶4.  Lukashenko Makes Government Appointments 
 
On May 16, Aleksandr Lukashenko made several appointments to the 
new government.  He appointed Aleksandr Ageyev, former Minister of 
Energy, as Deputy Chairman of the State Control Committee; Valentin 
Rybakov, former DCM in Washington, as a presidential aide; Viktor 
Krashevsky as chief of the Main Reconnaissance Department and 
Deputy Head of the Armed Forces' General Staff; Aleksandr Apatsky 
as First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental 
Protection; Galina Volchuga as Deputy Minister of Natural Resources 
and Environmental Protection; Valery Kazakevich as Chief of the 
Council of Ministers' Secretariat; Aleksandr Bagel as Chairman of 
the Glusk District Executive Committee; Nikolai Andrianov as 
Director General of state-run Belarusian Steel Works. 
 
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Civil Society 
------------- 
 
¶5.  Youth leaders Dashkevich, Finkevich Jailed for 15 days 
 
On May 18, two leaders of an opposition youth group Malady Front, 
Dmitry Dashkevich and Artur Finkevich, were sentenced to 15 days in 
jail in Minsk's Moskovsky District Court. The judge found them 
guilty of "petty hooliganism" under Article 156 of the 
Administrative Offenses Code after police officers charged that the 
two had spoken obscenities.  Special task police officers arrested 
Dashkevich and Finkevich as soon as they and other youths arrived 
at the court to support opposition activist Yury Radivil who was 
standing trial. Some 10 people were reportedly apprehended. 
Dashkevich and Finkevich were taken to the detention center on 
Okrestina Street where they spent the night.  Five days earlier, 
Dashkevich had been released from jail after serving a 14-day 
sentence for participation in an opposition demonstration on the 
20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.  On May 10, 
Finkevich was sentenced to two years of restricted freedom for anti- 
Lukashenko graffiti.  On May 18, Radivil was sentenced to three 
months in jail for alleged violence against a police officer. 
 
¶6.  Valery Levonevsky Released After Serving Two Years 
 
On May 15, opposition activist Valery Levonevsky was released from 
a correctional facility in Brest region after serving two years in 
prison. According to Levonevsky, correction officers left him at a 
railroad station in Grodno in the early morning. Relatives picked 
him up a few hours later. In September 2004, a district court in 
Grodno declared Mr. Levonevsky and his associate Aleksandr Vasilyev 
 
MINSK 00000532  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
guilty of defaming Lukashenko under Article 368 of the Criminal 
Code, because of a phrase in a leaflet publicizing a May Day 
protest which they organized, "Come and say no to someone's 
holidaying in Austria, skiing there and living well at your 
expense." Mr. Vasilyev was released under an amnesty on July 7, 
¶2005. Mr. Levonevsky was denied early release. 
 
¶7.  Belarusian Reporter Warned Against Defamation 
 
On May 17, the Minsk City Prosecutor's Office warned Belarusian 
journalist Irina Khalip against defaming Aleksandr Lukashenko in 
articles published in Russia's "Novaya Gazeta."  According to Ms. 
Khalip, the prosecutor's office said that her stories may violate 
the Criminal Code and could warrant a prison term or a "restricted 
freedom" sentence of up to four years.  Khalip stated, "In my 
opinion, the prosecutorial agency's close attention to me and my 
stories is evidence that I work well. And I will try not to 
disappoint them. I will continue working the way I'm doing it now." 
Khalip is closely connected with Charter 97. 
 
¶8.  Police and BKGB Seize Copies of Pavel Severinets' Book 
 
In the last two weeks, police and the BKGB seized 94 copies of a 
book by youth opposition leader Pavel Severinets to determine 
whether it meets with anti-defamatory regulations.  The book 
discusses Belarusian geography and history, including the short- 
lived Belarusian National Republic, World War II, and the Chernobyl 
nuclear accident. However, a few chapters reportedly mention the 
Belarusian Popular Front and Malady Front, an unregistered youth 
organization.  In May 2005, Mr. Severinets and opposition 
politician, Nikolai Statkevich, were sentenced to three years of 
restricted freedom for staging a series of unauthorized protests 
against the official results of the 2004 parliamentary elections 
and national referendum. The sentences were reduced by one year 
under an amnesty law. 
 
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Economy 
------- 
 
¶9.   Belarus Seeks Technologies To Reduce Energy Dependence 
 
On May 17, First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said that 
Belarus' primary goal is to develop new technologies to reduce 
energy dependence and increase consumption efficiency. According to 
Semashko, Belarus consumes 450 kilograms of oil equivalent per 
$1,000 of GDP, while in France and Germany the figure is at 150 
kilograms. He said that Belarus' draft state program of energy 
saving for 2006-2010 requires U.S. $5.3 billion in investments, 
including $2.7 billion for upgrade of energy-generating facilities. 
 
¶10.  Minsk to Consider Buying Crude Oil from Azerbaijan 
 
Following a meeting of the Belarusian-Azerbaijani commission for 
trade and economic cooperation on May 15, Deputy Prime Minister 
Andrei Kobyakov said that the government of Belarus will consider 
buying crude oil and petroleum products from Azerbaijan.  Kobyakov 
explained the possible move by noting that the while the price of 
oil has risen, the cost of transportation is decreasing as a 
percentage of oil prices. 
 
¶11.  Minsk Tractor Works Reports 30% Increase in Exports 
 
On May 17, the Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) posted a 29.6% increase in 
exports in the first four months of 2006 over the same period in 
¶2005.  From January through April the plant exported about USD 
190.9 million of products, of which USD 96 million was shipped to 
Russia, a rise of 51.5%. Exports to other CIS and non-CIS countries 
reportedly increased by 15.4% and 10.5%, respectively. Since the 
company was established, MTZ tractors have been delivered to 126 
countries, including:  Angola, Bosnia, China, Finland, Iceland, 
Iraq, Ireland, Mexico, Mozambique, Syria and Tadjikistan.  MTZ 
reportedly controls about 10% of the world tractor market and is 
seeking new markets in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Eastern 
Europe. MTZ reportedly built 42,156 tractors last year, 22% more 
than in 2004. 
 
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Culture 
------- 
 
¶14.  Belarus' Culture Ministry Gives The Da Vinci Code Adult Rating 
 
On May 17, the Belarusian culture ministry's censorship commission 
decided that people aged under 18 should be banned from watching 
the film The Da Vinci Code.  The commission has not yet decided 
whether to screen the movie in Belarus, but ticket sales for the 
movie were suspended on May 16.  The Belarusian Exarchate of the 
Russian Orthodox Church has strongly condemned the release of The 
Da Vinci Code, a feature film based on a novel by American author 
Dan Brown on the grounds that it injures the religious feelings of 
 
MINSK 00000532  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
believers. 
 
----------------- 
Quote of the Week 
----------------- 
 
¶15.  Alexander Lukashenko offered the following insight regarding 
democracy and the relationship between local and national 
governments: 
 
"The main thing in this discussion should be inviolability of the 
vertical of power from the top to the lowest level, and there 
should be no `exercises in democracy.' If we destroy this 
foundation -- and the primary level is the foundation of the 
vertical of power - then we could start a game of democracy, self- 
government and so on." 
 
KROL