VZCZCXRO8072
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSK #0849/01 2781510
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051510Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6544
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1687
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0115
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000849 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - October 05, 2007 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy 
Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
- Opposition Protests Social Benefits Cuts (para. 2) 
- Jailed Opposition Leader's Daughter Fired (para. 3) 
- Parliament's Lower House Elects New Speaker (para. 4) 
- Local Business Leader Fined (para. 5) 
- Prosecutor Scolds Journalists for Tarnishing Belarus (para. 6) 
- Market Vendors across Belarus Strike (para. 7) 
- Copies of Independent Publications Stopped at Border (para. 8) 
- Activists Establish Chernobyl Support Center (para. 9) 
 
International Relations 
----------------------- 
 
- GOB: UAE Strategic Partner and Ally (para. 10) 
 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
- Belarus' Retail Trade Up 16.5 Percent (para. 11) 
 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
- Trade with CIS Up 24 Percent (para. 12) 
 
- Quote of the Week (para. 13) 
 
------------- 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
¶2.  Opposition Protests Social Benefits Cuts 
 
On September 30 over 1,100 pro-democracy activists in 50 cities 
distributed leaflets and collected signatures urging the restoration 
of slashed social benefits.  Organizers had requested permission for 
458 pickets, but authorities only granted permission for three; one 
in Brest and two in Novogrudok.  Police reportedly raided the 
apartments of organizers, including United Civic Party Chairperson 
Anatoly Lebedko and Party of Communists of Belarus Leader Sergey 
Kalyakin.  Police detained Kalyakin's deputy Valery Ukhnalyov and 
other party members for passing out copies of the party's newspaper 
"Tovarishch" in central Minsk.  They were released a short time 
later. 
 
¶3.  Jailed Opposition Leader's Daughter Fired 
 
On September 27, following pressure from authorities, managers 
dismissed the daughter of imprisoned opposition leader Aleksandr 
Kozulin from her job.  Olga Kozulina was fired as deputy director of 
the legal and human resources department at a private company on the 
pretext of unauthorized absences.  Kozulina countered that she had 
been absent, but had informed the general manager and even asked for 
leave without pay.  She had not received her salary for four months. 
 
 
¶4.  Parliament's Lower House Elects New Speaker 
 
Members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of 
Parliament, elected Vadim Popov as speaker by secret ballot on 
October 2.  Popov received 94 votes, while Sergey Gaydukevich 
received 5.  The new speaker succeeds Vladimir Konoplyov who 
resigned September 11 reportedly for health reasons.  Popov 
previously held this position from 2000 to 2004. 
 
¶5.  Local Business Leader Fined 
 
A Soligorsk judge levied a USD 15 fine against local business leader 
Aleksandr Tsetsuro for disturbing public order and violating 
procedures for organizing mass events.  The sentence followed 
Tsetsuro's frequent requests to hold protests in Soligorsk.  He is a 
 
SIPDIS 
member of the Movement for Free Development of Entrepreneurship and 
had been involved in preparations for a demonstration against social 
benefit cuts on September 30 and small business strikes on October 
¶2. 
 
¶6.  Prosecutor Scolds Journalists for Tarnishing Belarus 
 
The prosecutor in Grodno summoned two independent journalists and 
threatened them with legal action for "working without 
accreditation" and for "bringing the international image of Belarus 
into disrepute," following the publication of articles on local 
 
MINSK 00000849  002 OF 003 
 
 
police negligence.   The reporters, correspondents for Polish-based 
"Radio Racyja," received warnings that they could be prosecuted for 
working as correspondents without state accreditation. 
 
¶7.  Market Vendors across Belarus Strike 
 
As many as 30,000 market vendors across Belarus reportedly walked 
off the job in a one-day strike on October 2.  The vendors were 
protesting President Lukashenko's new regulations banning sole 
entrepreneurs from hiring workers other than three family members 
starting January 1, 2008.  The strike included vendors in thirteen 
cities. 
 
¶8.  Copies of Independent Publications Stopped at Border 
 
On October 3, Belarusian border guards detained a truck containing 
thousands of copies of two independent newspapers "Narodnaya Volya" 
and "Tovarishch." The truck was entering Belarus from Smolensk, 
Russia, where the publications are produced.  After inspecting the 
truck for three hours, police released the driver and papers.  The 
editor of "Tovarishch" suggested that the police were looking for 
documentation to use as a pretext for seizing the whole print-run of 
the newspapers.  On September 27, authorities seized 14,000 copies 
of the "Tovarishch" in Minsk, and there has been no word whether 
they will be released. 
 
¶9.  Activists Establish Chernobyl Support Center 
 
On September 29, over 50 regional civil society activists held the 
founding conference for the Center for Support of Chernobyl 
Initiatives.  Attendees elected Ivan Nikitchenko, a prominent 
scientist and Chernobyl nuclear researcher to head the NGO.  The 
Center will monitor the aftermath of the incident, assist victims, 
carry out educational projects, publish materials about nuclear 
power plants and their impact on health and environment, and 
organize seminars, conferences and public discussions. 
 
International Relations 
----------------------- 
 
¶10.  GOB: UAE Strategic Partner and Ally 
 
Although ties remain close with Iran, President Lukashenko has 
characterized the United Arab Emirates as Belarus' key strategic 
partner and ally in the Persian Gulf.  On October 1, the parties 
signed an intergovernmental protocol of collaboration, an MOU with 
Minsk City government on real estate, and an MOU between Belarus' 
military electronics manufacturer Peleng and Al Yah Satellite 
Communications Company.  This follows a March 2007 agreement to 
establish an intergovernmental group to implement joint projects in 
petrochemical, military, power engineering, and satellite 
technologies.  Actual trade between Belarus and the UAE is minimal: 
it expanded 153 percent on the year in January-July to an official 
total of USD 6.38 million.  Belarus' exports rose 230 percent to USD 
6 million, while imports declined 44.9 percent to USD 400,000. 
Belarus' main exports have been powdered milk, oil products, tires 
and bearings. 
 
---------------- 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
¶11.  Belarus' Retail Trade Up 16.5 Percent 
 
Belarus' Statistics Ministry reported that retail trade increased 
16.5 percent on the year.  Non-food products made up 48 percent of 
spending compared to 46 percent last year.  Belarusian-made products 
accounted for 85.4 percent of food spending and 66 percent of 
non-food spending.  Private businesses accounted for 82 percent of 
retail sales. 
 
------------------- 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
¶12.  Trade with CIS Up 24 Percent 
 
Belarus' trade with the CIS member countries from January through 
July 2007 totaled USD 15.6 billion, an increase of 24 percent over 
the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economics.  Exports 
to Russia rose by 28.8 percent to USD 4.6 billion with imports 
increasing by 18.7 percent to USD 8.7 billion. 
 
---------------------- 
¶13.  Quote of the Week 
---------------------- 
 
Deputy Economics Minister Andrey Tur, on the superlative investment 
environment in Belarus: 
 
MINSK 00000849  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
"If entrepreneurs are having trouble, they should change their 
business model....  Yesterday at the ministry we discussed vegetable 
storehouses.  I have a friend -- a teacher and lawyer -- who has 
constructed such a storehouse.  He invests five cents per carrot, 
and when the season comes, he can sell them for who knows how 
much." 
 
Moore