VZCZCXRO2820
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHSK #0938/01 2401133
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281133Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4993
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 000938 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON EPET EAGR ENRG KTDB BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - AUGUST 28, 2006 
 
 
MINSK 00000938  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by 
Embassy Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 
----------------------- 
- Lawmaker Calls Union State Act 99 Percent Ready (para. 2) 
- CSTO Consultations on Military Training (para. 3) 
 
LOCAL ELECTIONS 
--------------- 
- Opposition Parties in Gomel Sign Cooperation Accord (para. 4) 
 
CIVIL SOCIETY 
------------- 
- Youth Sentenced to Four Days in Jail for Demonstration (para. 5) 
- Border Guards Apprehend Families on Religious Retreat (para. 6) 
- Activists Again Petition BKGB over Neo-Nazism (para. 7) 
- Anonymous CD on Protests Circulating throughout Minsk (para. 8) 
 
TRADE AND INVESTMENT 
-------------------- 
- Belarus Reports USD 9.27 Billion in Trade with Russia (para. 9) 
 
DOMESTIC ECONOMICS 
------------------ 
- Belarus' Pipelines Report Almost 50 Percent Profits (para. 10) 
- Banks Raise Interest Rates on Corporate Deposits  (para. 11) 
 
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK (para. 12) 
 
----------------------- 
International Relations 
----------------------- 
 
 
¶2.  Belarusian Lawmaker Calls Union State Act 99 Percent Ready 
 
On August 24, Nikolay Cherginets, chairman of the Committee on 
International Affairs and National Security in the Council of 
Republic of the Belarusian National Assembly, characterized the 
draft Constitutional Act of the Belarusian-Russian Union State as 
"99 percent ready."  Cherginets was hopeful that Presidents 
Lukashenko and Putin would approve the draft and that both Russia 
and Belarus would hold national referenda to adopt the act. 
However, Cherginets conceded the two sides still could not agree 
whether a Union President or the Supreme State Council would govern 
the Union State. 
 
 
¶3.  Belarusian Delegation Attends CSTO Talks on Military Training 
 
On August 17, a delegation from the Belarusian Defense Ministry 
attended consultations on personnel training in the Collective 
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) held in Moscow.  The 
consultations followed up a 2005 agreement on the creation of a 
single system of joint CSTO training and draft regulations 
governing cooperation between CSTO members in military staff 
training.  The CSTO defense ministers previously approved a list of 
60 military schools that will train cadets from CSTO countries, 
which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, 
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.  Russian military schools train about 
1,000 cadets from other CSTO states each year.  Approximately 800 
receive full or partial tuition waivers. 
 
--------------- 
Local Elections 
--------------- 
 
¶4.  Opposition Parties in Gomel Sign Cooperation Accord 
 
On August 23, the Gomel region chapters of the opposition United 
Civic Party (UCP), the Belarusian Party of Communists (BPC), the 
Belarusian Popular Front (BNF), the Belarusian Social Democratic 
Party "Gramada" (BSDP), and several pro-democracy organizations, 
including the Independent Union of Electronics Industry Workers, 
signed a cooperation agreement for local elections scheduled for 
January 14.  The agreement provides for cooperation in selecting 
and training candidates, sharing information and legal support, and 
joint election monitoring.  Earlier this summer, opposition parties 
signed similar agreements in Grodno, Brest, Mogilev, and Vitebsk 
regions.  Approximately 24,000 seats on more than 1,600 municipal 
councils throughout Belarus will be open to challenge in the 
upcoming elections. 
 
------------- 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
¶5.  Youth Sentenced to Four Days in Jail for Demonstration 
 
MINSK 00000938  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
On August 24, a Minsk district court sentenced opposition youth 
activist Yuliya Goryachko to four days in jail and fined five 
others between USD 290 and 420 after finding them guilty of 
participating in an unsanctioned demonstration under Article 167 of 
the Administrative Offenses Code.  On August 23, a group of 
opposition youth activists gathered near the Tsentralny district 
police station in Minsk for what they called "making friends with 
police officers."  Two youths attempted to give policemen booklets 
while others were holding candles.  Two other youth activists 
failed to appear at the hearing. 
 
¶6.  Border Guards Apprehend Children, Parents on Religious Retreat 
 
On August 9, Belarusian border guards took into custody and 
transported to Minsk 47 children and their parents, all Baptist 
church members who were on retreat at a private homestead in the 
western Grodno region.  The previous day, the local authorities had 
ordered the gathering to disperse and threatened to take the 
children to a police juvenile facility.  Head of the Minsk City 
Executive Committee Department for Religious and Ethnic Communities 
Alla Ryabitseva has conceded that the retreat was legal since 
private individuals organized the event.  One of the parents, Igor 
Biskupsky, has already collected 20 signatures to complain to the 
Minsk and Grodno governments about the psychological trauma caused 
to the children. 
 
¶7.  Civil Society Activists Again Petition BKGB over Neo-Nazism 
 
On August 22, participants at public hearings on the crimes of 
Stalinism in Belarus decided to renew their petition to the BKGB to 
raise awareness of the revival of Nazism.  A group of Belarusian 
students, retirees, journalists, historians, and former political 
prisoners sent their first petition to the BKGB in May to condemn 
vandalism at the Kurapaty Stalin-era massacre site near Minsk, the 
memorial of Belarusian writer Vladimir Korotkevich in Vitebsk, and 
a mosque in the western city of Slonim and to express their concern 
about the authorities' failure to respond to the spread of swastika 
graffiti.  Belarusian historian Yakov Basin reported he received a 
reply from the Prosecutor General's Office on August 4 stating the 
Prosecutor General is considering the group's petition. 
 
 
¶8.  Anonymous CD on Protests Circulating throughout Minsk 
 
On August 24, independent media reported the grassroots 
distribution of an anonymous multi-media CD containing video 
footage and photographs of post-March election opposition protests 
in Minsk's Oktyabrskaya Square.  Called "Open Air Revolution," the 
CD also features local and foreign media reports about young 
opposition supporters who camped out in Minsk's central square 
between March 19 and 24.  The anonymous creators of the CD describe 
the demonstration as a "round-the-clock extreme party in cramped 
facilities" marked by "excellent self-organization."  They describe 
the demonstrations not only as protests against President 
Lukashenko's fraudulent re-election on March 19 but also a "social 
conflict between riot police officers and their peers" and a 
"revolution in the minds of young Belarusians."  Police dispersed 
the encampment in a pre-dawn raid and arrested hundreds of 
demonstrators, most of whom received jail terms of 15 days. 
 
-------------------- 
Trade and Investment 
-------------------- 
 
¶9.  Belarus Reports USD 9.27 Billion in Trade with Russia 
 
On August 18, the Belarusian Economics Ministry reported that 
Belarusian-Russian trade totaled USD 9.3 billion in the first six 
months of 2006.  Belarusian exports reportedly rose by USD 409.7 
million on the year to USD 3.1 billion and imports by USD 1.9 
billion to USD 6.2 billion.  Belarus' export of tractors increased 
by USD 70.6 million, trucks by USD 39.8 million, tires by USD 25.3 
million, auto and tractor parts by USD 17.6 million and combustion 
engines by USD 10.7 million.  Increased energy purchases drove up 
imports.  For example, imports of oil and gas jumped by USD 1.2 
billion, an increase of 70.8 percent.  Belarusian trade with 
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries amounted to USD 
11 billion during January to June, of which trade with Russia 
accounted for 87.4 percent.  On the year, Belarusian exports to the 
CIS increased by 17.5 percent to USD 3.8 billion and imports by 
43.1 percent to USD 6.9 billion. 
 
---------------- 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
¶10.  Belarus' Pipelines Report Almost 50 Percent Profits 
 
On August 24, the Belarusian Ministry of Statistics and Analysis 
reported that natural gas transportation through Belarus' pipeline 
 
MINSK 00000938  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
system rose 6.6 percent on the year from January to July to 39.1 
billion cubic meters.  During that period, Belarus' natural gas 
imports increased 5.4 percent to 12.1 billion cubic meters.  Gas 
transit via Belarus' pipelines increased 7.1 percent on the year to 
27 billion cubic meters.  Russian gas transit via Belarus' 
pipelines to Poland accounted for 70 percent of the total.  Gas 
transit to Ukraine and Lithuania made up 20 percent and 8 percent, 
respectively.  Gas transit to Kaliningrad Region accounted for the 
remaining two percent.  Belarus' pipeline companies reported 
profits of 49.1 percent from January to June 2006, down from 61.5 
percent in the period in 2005. 
 
¶11.  Belarusian Banks Raise Interest Rates on Corporate Deposits 
 
On August 24, the National Bank of Belarus announced Belarusian 
banks raised the average interest rates on corporate short-term and 
long-term deposits in Belarusian rubles to 7.8 percent in July from 
7.2 percent in January and to 10.2 percent in July from 9.6 percent 
in January, respectively.  Meanwhile, interest rates on corporate 
long-term loans in hard currency increased to 8.5 percent from 6.4 
percent.  Interest rates on corporate short-term deposits in hard 
currency, however, dropped to 5.3 percent in July from 6.1 percent 
in January.  Belarusian ruble deposits of domestic companies 
amounted to 3.205 trillion rubles (USD 1.4 billion) as of August 1, 
up 14.9 percent from January 1.  Hard currency deposits increased 
24.4 percent to USD 1.3 billion. 
 
----------------- 
Quote of the Week 
----------------- 
 
¶12.  When asked about the distribution of an anonymous multi-media 
CD containing video footage and photographs of post-election 
opposition protests at Minsk's Oktyabrskaya Square, opposition 
youth leader Dmitriy Dashkevich told independent media: 
 
"The protests have shaken up the sluggish life of the Belarusian 
society.  I am sure that not only underground materials but also 
certain paragraphs of Belarus' modern history will soon feature 
this brave act by the Belarusian youths.  The country saw the 
emergence of a new political elite consisting of youths who are 
free from the burden of the Soviet legacy and, unlike the older 
generation, are prepared to self-sacrifice for their ideals and 
Belarus." 
 
Moore