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DE RUEHSK #0771/01 2501339
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R 071339Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6465
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000771 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 
 
REF: MINSK 754 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy 
Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
- Pro-GOB Youth Union Reports on Successes (para. 2) 
- Opposition Leaders Harassed in Brest (para. 3) 
- Opposition Youth Sentenced to Jail and Fines (para. 4) 
- Free-Lancers Warned over Reporting for Foreign Radio (para. 5) 
- Uzbek Trafficker Arrested in Kobrin (para. 6) 
- Judge Dismisses Reports Church Hearing Scheduled (para. 7) 
 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
- IMF: Higher Energy Prices to Impact Belarus' Economy (para. 8) 
 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
- Russia's Slavneft Resumes Oil Supplies to Belarus (para. 9) 
- Belarus Bans Food Imports from Russian Region (para. 10) 
 
- Quote of the Week (para. 11) 
 
------------- 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
¶2.  Pro-GOB Youth Union Reports on Successes 
 
Belarusian National Youth Union (BNYU) Head Leonid Kovalyov said at 
a press conference on September 4 that the BNYU's membership had 
increased from 30,000 to 430,000 people since its establishment in 
¶2002.  He also noted that the main goal of "mobilizing youths' 
initiative for the good of Belarusian society" has been achieved as 
the BNYU focuses on specific deeds, activities, and results. 
Kovalyov claimed that 780 BNYU personnel assisted 135,000 people in 
five years in finding employment, and that organization's income in 
2007 will top USD 300,000 due to such profitable businesses as a 
radio station and a travel agency. 
 
¶3.  Opposition Leaders Harassed in Brest 
 
Police detained United Civic Party Head Anatoly Lebedko, Acting 
Chairperson of the Belarusian Social-Democratic Party "Gramada" 
Anatoly Levkovich, and Belarusian Party of Communists Leader Sergey 
Kalyakin for about an hour in Brest on August 31.  The police 
blocked their vehicle and forced it to pull over for an ID check. 
Lebedko and Kalyakin also claimed that upon returning from Brest 
they discovered their car's wheel had been tampered with.  The three 
party chairs came to Brest to meet with the local opposition 
leaders, market vendors, deliver foodstuff to jailed democratic 
leader Pavel Severinets, and to attend trials of civil society 
activists arrested at the meeting with Severinets on August 19. 
 
¶4.  Opposition Youth Sentenced to Jail and Fines 
 
On September 5, a Soligorsk district court judge sentenced two 
opposition youth activists, Ales Kalita and Lyudmila Otokulova, to 
seven days in jail.  Six other activists received fines ranging from 
USD 58 to 72.  The court found them guilty of disturbing public 
peace and violating demonstration procedures when the youth 
protested at the trial of local Malady Front leader Ivan Shilo on 
September 4 (reftel).  All the activists spent a night at the 
detention center. 
 
¶5.  Free-Lancers Warned over Reporting for Foreign Radio 
Two Grodno independent journalists, Natalya Makushina and Yan Roman, 
were summoned to district prosecutor's office on September 3 to 
receive warnings over violations of media accreditation 
requirements.  The prosecutor accused Makushina, reporter for 
Polish-based Radio Racja, and Roman, reporter for German Deutsche 
Welle, of writing "biased" articles hurting Belarus' image abroad. 
Makushina told the media that the prosecutor failed to provide any 
evidence of contacts with foreign radio stations and only produced 
copies of her articles from various internet sites.  The Foreign 
Ministry's spokesperson said that the two reporters never applied 
for accreditation. 
 
¶6.  Uzbek Trafficker Arrested in Kobrin 
 
An Uzbek woman was arrested in the southwestern city of Kobrin on 
September 1 on suspicion of recruiting Belarusian women in Belarus 
for sexual exploitation in Moscow.  The police detained the 37-year 
 
MINSK 00000771  002 OF 002 
 
 
old woman at a railroad station with three Belarusian women of 19 
and 20 years of age, whom she was allegedly planning to take to 
brothels in Moscow.  Police opened a criminal case against the 
woman, whom reportedly had never been charged with trafficking 
before. 
 
¶7.  Judge Dismisses Reports Church Hearing Scheduled 
 
On September 5, Supreme Court judge Elena Korotkevich dismissed 
reports that the new hearings on the New Life Church (NLC) were set 
to resume in September.  The Minsk authorities informed the NLC in a 
letter that, according to court's secretariat, the hearings would be 
scheduled in September.  NLC Legal Expert Sergey Lukanin said that 
it was news to Korotkevich.  She explained that the court would not 
be reviewing the case any time in the near future.  The NLC is 
appealing the forced sale of its property to the state. 
 
---------------- 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
¶8.  IMF: Higher Energy Prices to Impact Belarus' Economy 
 
The International Monetary Fund issued a report predicting a 10-15 
percent cumulative GDP loss for Belarus through 2012 due to 
increasing energy prices, with up to a five percent decrease in 2007 
alone.  The IMF report notes that the recent positive economic 
climate in Belarus -- a growing economy and declining inflation -- 
is primarily due to the subsidized prices for Russian oil and gas. 
The IMF also reports that the Belarusian currency is overvalued by 
approximately ten percent. 
 
------------------- 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
¶9.  Russia's Slavneft Resumes Oil Supplies to Belarus 
 
Russia's Slavneft has resumed crude oil supplies to Belarus in a 
deal allowing the company further processing and sales rights in 
Belarus' domestic market.  The company will resume supplies with a 
monthly volume of 200,000 tons, much of which will be used as 
gasoline and diesel for its own filling stations in Belarus. 
Currently, Belarus subsidizes 90 percent of the cost of Russian 
export duties on crude supplied to Belarus, an incentive not 
sufficient to attract Russian traders.  Russia discounts the export 
duty by 71.7 percent for crude destined to CIS countries compared to 
other markets. 
 
¶10.  Belarus Bans Food Imports from Russian Region 
 
On September 5, Belarus' Agriculture Ministry suspended issuing 
authorizations for food imports from Russia's Krasnodar region.  The 
ministry cited the recent outbreak of bird flu in that province as 
the reason for the move.  Belarus' imports from Krasnodar mostly 
consist of limited quantities of grain and forage.  In the past, 
Belarus has suspended food imports from 19 countries -- including 
France, Germany and the Czech Republic. Normally, such bans are 
lifted six months after the last instance of bird flu has been 
detected. 
 
---------------------- 
¶11. Quote of the Week 
---------------------- 
 
The prosecutor in the case of Malady Front activist Ivan Shilo told 
the court that the state did not single out the youth because of his 
political beliefs.  To support his argument that the prosecution was 
not politically motivated, the prosecutor claimed that the GOB 
"would even prosecute a member of an unregistered organization of 
hamster lovers." 
 
Stewart