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RR RUEHAST RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSK #0442/01 1451057
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251057Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6067
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 000442 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON EPET ENRG BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - MAY 25, 2007 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy 
Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
- GOB Fines Third Organizer of Chernobyl March (para. 2) 
- Opposition Campaign to Commemorate Vitebsk Purges (para. 3) 
 
International Relations 
----------------------- 
 
- Lower House Approves Kyrgyz Cooperation Accord (para. 4) 
- International Weapons Show Opens in Minsk (para. 5) 
 
International Trade and Investment 
---------------------------------- 
 
- ABN Amro to Loan USD 1 Billion to GOB Oil Refineries (para. 6) 
- Gazprom Buys Half of Beltransgaz, JV Postponed (para. 7) 
- Belarus Has Trade Relations With 149 Countries (para. 8) 
 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
- GOB to Build Underground Gas Storage by Mid-2008 (para. 9) 
- Lower Fares Lose GOB Railroad USD 16 Million (para. 10) 
 
Society 
------- 
 
- Almost 11,000 Foreigners Legally Reside in Minsk (para. 11) 
- One Quarter of Belarusian Couples Are Infertile (para. 12) 
 
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK (para. 13) 
 
CIVIL SOCIETY 
------------- 
 
¶2.  GOB Fines Third Organizer of Chernobyl March 
 
On May 23, a Minsk court fined Belarusian Social Democratic Party 
"Gramada" Deputy Chair Anatoliy Sidorevich USD 353 for organizing 
the opposition's April 26 Chernobyl anniversary demonstration during 
which participants allegedly left the sidewalk and obstructed 
traffic.  On May 21, authorities previously fined opposition 
Belarusian Popular Front Deputy Chair Aleksey Yanukevich USD 434 and 
United Civic Party member Valentina Palevikova USD 352 for the same 
offense.  The demonstration organizers maintain that some 
participants left the sidewalk only briefly to avoid a road 
construction site. 
 
 
¶3.  Opposition Campaign to Commemorate Vitebsk Purges 
 
On May 23, independent media reported that opposition Belarusian 
Popular Front (BPF) chapter in the northern city of Vitebsk has 
petitioned local authorities to erect a plaque in a forest where 
many people are believed to have been executed by the NKVD during 
Stalinist purges of 1937 to 1941.  Vitebsk BPF leader Konstantin 
Smolikov called on Vitebsk District Executive Committee Chairman 
Ivan Vazmitsel to order local schools to add the executions to their 
history courses and offered to help the district authorities with 
collecting historical materials for a pamphlet on the massacres. 
According to Smolikov, opposition activists plan to clean up and 
landscape the area. 
 
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  Lower House Approves Cooperation Accord with Kyrgyzstan 
 
On May 23, the Belarusian parliament's lower house approved the 
ratification of a Belarusian-Kyrgyz agreement on friendship and 
cooperation signed in November 2006.  While speaking for 
ratification at the lower chamber's session, GOB Deputy Foreign 
Minister Vasil Pugachyov highlighted Kyrgyzstan's vote against last 
year's UN resolution that criticized the human rights situation in 
Belarus.  The accord declares that the countries will build their 
relations on the principles of sovereign equality, respect for human 
rights, non-interference in the other country's internal affairs, 
territorial integrity, the peaceful settlement of disputes, mutually 
beneficial cooperation and abidance by universally recognized norms 
of international law.  Under the agreement, the countries are to 
develop equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in areas of 
economics, science, education, culture and healthcare. 
 
¶5.  International Weapons Show Opens in Minsk 
 
 
MINSK 00000442  002 OF 003 
 
 
On May 22, MILEX 2007, a biennial armament and military equipment 
exhibition, opened in the BelExpo center in Minsk.  Representatives 
from more than 130 Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Swedish 
companies participated in the show.  Moreover, military delegations 
representing Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Oman, 
Russia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United 
Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and other countries observed 
MILEX 2007.  While opening the exhibition, Belarusian Security 
Council State Secretary Viktor Sheyman said that delegations' 
presence underscores that "every state views the task of ensuring 
national security, defense capability and fight against terrorism as 
a priority."  During the exhibit, GOB Defense Minister Leonid 
Maltsev held talks on military cooperation with Tajik and Ukrainian 
defense ministers Sherali Khayrulloyev and Volodymyr Boyko, 
respectively. 
 
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  ABN Amro to Loan USD 1 Billion to GOB Oil Refineries 
 
Deputy Chairman of Belarus' oil and chemical industry agency 
Belneftekhim Mikhail Osipenko announced on May 18 that Dutch ABN 
Amro bank would issue a USD 1 billion loan to the country's two oil 
refineries against the guarantee of the GOB.  The loan's interest 
rate will be lower than those offered by Belarusian banks.  Speaking 
at the conference on Belarus oil industry on May 13, a 
representative of Belarus' largest private bank Priorbank noted that 
the country's banking system cannot afford financing oil refineries, 
as domestic banks have approached their limits in issuing loans. 
 
¶7.  Gazprom Buys Half of Beltransgaz, JV Agreement Postponed 
 
On May 18, Russia's Gazprom and Belarus State Property Committee 
signed a USD 2.5 billion contract on selling 50 percent of shares of 
Belarus' natural gas transportation company Beltransgaz to Gazprom. 
The shares will be acquired in four equal installments in 2007-2010. 
During this time Beltransgaz may not dispose or otherwise encumber 
the shares it owes to Gazprom.  Under the contract, prices charged 
to Belarusian wholesale consumers will grow gradually, Belarusian 
government will not impose golden share, the volume of gas supplied 
to Belarus will not be lower than now and all disputes will be 
resolved under Belarusian law.  The joint venture (JV) agreement 
will be signed in early June. 
 
¶8.  Belarus Has Trade Relations With 149 Countries 
 
On May 23, the Belarusian Economics Ministry reported that Belarus 
maintained trade relations with 149 countries, exported goods to 110 
countries, and imported goods from 136 countries during the first 
three months of the year.  Belarus' main trading partners were 
Russia, which accounted for 48.1 percent of Belarus' total foreign 
trade, the Netherlands with seven percent, Germany with 6.1 percent, 
Ukraine with 5.9 percent, Poland with four percent, the United 
Kingdom with 2.8 percent, China and Latvia with 2.4 percent each, 
the United States with 2.3 percent, and Italy with 1.7 percent. 
Belarus' foreign trade in goods in Q1 totaled USD 11.2 billion, with 
exports amounting to USD 5.4 billion and imports totaling USD 5.9 
billion.  In terms of value, Belarus' exports reportedly exceeded 
those in the same period in 2006 by 6.3 percent, or USD 2.8 billion, 
and imports increased by 21.1 percent, or almost USD 1 billion. 
 
DOMESTIC ECONOMY 
---------------- 
 
¶9.  GOB to Build Underground Gas Storage by Mid-2008 
 
Belarus' Energy Minister Aleksandr Ozerets advised on May 23 that in 
early 2008 the Beltransgaz will complete construction of the 
country's third and largest underground gas storage (UGS) facility. 
While two existing UGS have capacities of 300 and 360 million cubic 
meters of gas, the third UGS (construction started in 2006) will 
store more than 1 billion cubic meters, as it will utilize former 
rock salt mines near the city of Mozyr in Gomel region.  Belarus' 
winter daily consumption of natural gas is 60 million cubic meters. 
Beltransgaz experts believe the country needs an underground storage 
capacity of up to 6 billion to ensure stability of its energy 
supplies. 
 
¶10.  Lower Fares Lose GOB Railroad USD 16 Million 
 
On May 22, Belarusian National Rail Network First Deputy Chief 
Vladimir Laptsinskiy reported that losses sustained by Belarusian 
Railroads last year because of transporting passengers eligible for 
reduced fares amounted to USD 15.8 million.  In 2006, Belarusian 
Railroads transported 99.4 million passengers, with as many as 19.6 
million of them, or about 20 percent, traveling at a discount. 
According to Laptsinskiy, Belarus' Finance Ministry compensated the 
rail operator for only USD 2.3 million, or 15 percent of the losses. 
 He added that in the first three months of 2007, Belarusian 
railroads transported 4.1 million reduced-fare passengers, or 20 
 
MINSK 00000442  003 OF 003 
 
 
percent of the total number, and was compensated only USD 653,000, 
or 14.1 percent of the losses.  On May 23, the lower house of the 
Belarusian parliament passed a government-sponsored bill that would 
abolish many social benefits, including reduced fare privileges. 
 
SOCIETY 
------- 
 
¶11.  Almost 11,000 Foreigners Legally Reside in Minsk 
 
On May 22, Minsk City Police Citizenship and Migration Office Chief 
Nikolay Shevchyk reported that more than 10,700 foreign citizens 
legally reside in Minsk at present, up from approximately 9,500 in 
early May 2006.   Of these resident foreigners in Minsk, 3,650 are 
university students, mostly Russians and Chinese.  Shevchyk also 
noted that more than 27,500 foreigners are currently legally staying 
in the Belarusian capital, including 13,670 Russians and 2,680 
Ukrainians.  According to the authorities, 188 foreigners had been 
granted work permits in Minsk from January through April.  For 
example, Tajik workers are involved in the construction of a large 
multi-sport arena on the northwestern edge of the city, and Turkish 
workers are building a five-star hotel in downtown Minsk.  During 
the first four months of this year, 1,403 foreign nationals were 
charged with violating regulations governing their stay in Minsk. 
Meanwhile, authorities deported more than 100 persons from Belarus. 
 
 
¶12.  One Quarter of Belarusian Couples Are Infertile 
 
On May 22, Belarusian House of Representatives Committee on Health, 
Physical Culture, Family and Youth Affairs Committee Chair Vladimir 
Isaev revealed that approximately 25 percent of married couples in 
Belarus suffer from sterility.  Isaev called on the national 
legislature to push for easier access to state funded in vitro 
fertilization (IVF) treatment.  He noted that IVF treatment is very 
expensive, with one cycle priced at about USD 3,000 in private 
clinics and nearly USD 2,000 in state health institutions, not 
including the cost of necessary drugs.  He predicted that a wider 
access to the treatment would help curtail child abandonment because 
"babies born from IVF treatment are desirable and will never be 
abandoned." 
 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK 
----------------- 
 
¶13.  During President Lukashenko's May 20 televised discussion with 
Minsk administration officials and architects, a city official 
referred to proposals for constructing a diplomatic complex at 
Minsk-1 airport on the following grounds: 
 
"We are sick and tired of providing buildings for diplomatic 
missions." 
 
STEWART