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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSK #0918/01 3061615
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021615Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6615
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1713
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000918 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - November 02, 2007 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy 
Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
- Activists Mark Remembrance Day (para. 2) 
- Police Seize Materials Ahead of Social March (para. 3) 
- Opposition Youth Examined by Psychiatrists (para. 4) 
- Authorities Ban Commemoration of Afghan War Victims (para. 5) 
- Political Prisoners Facing New Criminal Charges (para. 6) 
- Several Activists Receive Fines (para. 7) 
- Market Vendors Barred from Protesting (para. 8) 
 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
- Ministry Reports Stable Budget Implementation (para. 9) 
- Ruble Down 4.6 Percent (para. 10) 
 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
- Foreign Investment, Trade Deficit Rise (para. 11) 
- Russia May Supply Equipment for Nuclear Plant (para. 12) 
 
- Quote of the Week (para. 13) 
 
------------- 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
¶2.  Activists Mark Remembrance Day 
 
Hundreds of opposition youth and civil society activists marched 
October 28 to the Kurapaty Stalin-era execution site to hold a 
sanctioned demonstration marking Ancestors' Remembrance Day.  The 
demonstrators displayed nationalist white-red-white flags, Malady 
Front banners, and signs calling for the release of political 
prisoners Dmitry Dashkevich and Aleksandr Kozulin.  Police vehicles 
and plainclothesmen escorted and filmed the crowd on the way to 
Kurapaty without interfering.  Over 1,500 people gathered at the 
site, prayed and dedicated a restored wooden cross that was 
vandalized a few days before the commemoration.  In Gomel, over 50 
opposition activists also marked the day by staging an unauthorized 
picket at a local execution site where they unveiled a memorial 
stone to the martyrs of Belarus.  Police closely monitored and 
filmed the event, but did not interfere.  In a separate incident, 
police prevented opposition activists from traveling to the Grodno 
region October 27 to commemorate the memory of prominent Belarusian 
independence fighters Kastus and Viktor Kalinovsky.  Police twice 
detained activists for over four hours for allegedly speeding, 
transporting illegal immigrants, and smuggling alcohol.  Running 
short of time, the group returned to Minsk. 
 
¶3.  Police Seize Materials Ahead of Social March 
 
Police seized 5,000 leaflets and stickers October 30 publicizing the 
Social March scheduled for November 4.  Officers apprehended 
Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) member Vatslav Oreshko at a bus stop 
in central Minsk and detained him for three hours.  Oreshko said the 
officers guaranteed the return of materials after a check, but he 
expressed doubt the materials would be returned before November 4, 
asserting that police plan to prevent dissemination of Social March 
information. 
 
¶4.  Opposition Youth Examined by Psychiatrists 
 
Youth activist Andrey Tenyuta, facing criminal charges for allegedly 
acting on behalf of the unregistered organization Malady Front (MF), 
underwent a BKGB-mandated psychiatric examination at a Gomel clinic 
October 25.  Tenyuta spent eight hours at the hospital, and in 
addition to the examination doctors inquired about his MF 
activities.  Test results will be released later.  The BKGB refused 
to return his computer and printed materials seized during a raid on 
his apartment in early October. 
 
¶5.  Authorities Ban Commemoration of Afghan War Victims 
 
October 31, Minsk city authorities denied permission to stage a 
commemoration ceremony at a memorial to Soviet soldiers killed in 
Afghanistan.  Ceremony organizers, the Belarusian Popular Front 
(BPF) and National Public Association of Afghanistan War Disabled 
Veterans, intended to commemorate the occasion during an 
anti-Communist forum to be held on November 3 at BPF headquarters. 
They also planned to protest the upcoming International Communists 
Conference and memorialize those who died in "the USSR's drive for 
world domination."  City authorities claimed the organizers violated 
 
MINSK 00000918  002 OF 003 
 
 
the law governing procedures for mass events. 
 
¶6.  Political Prisoners Facing New Criminal Charges 
 
Opposition youth group Malady Front (MF) leader Artur Finkevich, 
currently serving a two-year khimiya sentence in Mogilev now faces 
new criminal charges over unspecified violations of the terms of his 
sentence.  Finkevich, due to be released in mid-December, may now be 
sentenced to up to three more years in jail.  The new charges were 
brought following Finkevich's fourth warning from the 
administration.  In a separate case, closed door hearings against 
political prisoner Dmitry Dashkevich will take place November 6 in 
the prison where he is currently held.  Authorities opened a new 
case against Dashkevich August 14, charging him of refusing to 
testify as a witness in a criminal case against MF member Ivan 
Shilo.  The charges carry a penalty of up to three years in jail. 
 
¶7.  Several Activists Receive Fines 
 
A Brest district judge October 30 fined opposition activist Roman 
Kislyak 62,000 rubles (USD 29) on petty hooliganism charges.  Police 
briefly detained him after stopping Kislyak's car October 13 
claiming he was engaged in a hit and run.  He was released October 
15 and charged with using obscenities in police officers' presence. 
In a separate case, "For Freedom" movement activist Igor Lyalkov 
received a fine of 930,000 rubles (USD 430) for organizing "a mass 
event of an opposition nature" August 11.  Lyalkov received the 
ruling October 29 which cited his refusal to sign a document 
acknowledging charges against him and failure to appear at his 
October 10 court hearing.  The activist argued he did not receive a 
subpoena and will appeal the fine to a higher court. 
 
¶8.  Market Vendors Barred from Protesting 
 
Police detained small business leader Sergey Parsyukevich and local 
opposition activist Anatoly Shapovalov October 29 for an hour on 
suspicion of car theft.  Police officers stopped the demonstration 
organizers as they were driving to a market vendors rally in 
Vitebsk.  Police stopped another opposition member, Kristofor 
Zhelyapov, while he was driving from Minsk to Vitebsk, but released 
him shortly thereafter without charges.  Shapovalov walked to the 
venue and informed about 20 market vendors already gathered at the 
site that they should disperse as the authorities banned the rally. 
This was the second denial of market vendors' applications to stage 
protests. 
 
---------------- 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
¶9.  Ministry Reports Stable Budget Implementation 
 
Belarus' Finance Ministry announced October 29 that the country met 
national budget revenue targets for January-September, although with 
some difficulties.  VAT, profit and excise tax revenues were higher 
than expected.  Social expenditures including healthcare, sports, 
culture, education, and welfare exceeded USD 4.6 billion, or 43.1 
percent of all expenditures.  Finance Minister Nikolai Korbut 
stressed the importance of tight control of targeted spending, 
saving, and repayment of state loans. 
 
¶10.  Ruble Down 4.6 Percent 
 
The National Bank of Belarus announced October 30 that the 
Belarusian Ruble depreciated 4.6 percent in real terms during the 
January-September time period.  The Belarusian ruble depreciated 5.9 
percent against the Russian ruble, 1.8 percent against the euro, 3.7 
percent against the Ukrainian hryvna and appreciated 1.6 percent 
against the dollar. 
 
------------------- 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
¶11.  Foreign Investment, Trade Deficit Rise 
 
Belarus' Vice Premier Andrey Kobyakov announced October 26 that 
foreign investment in Belarus totaled USD 2.3 billion for the 
January-June time period, a 100 percent year-on-year increase. 
Through August 2007 imports rose 24.8 percent while exports were up 
18.3 percent.  He reported a commodity trade deficit of USD 2.07 
billion and a services trade surplus of USD 761 million.  Kobyakov 
cited higher energy costs and increased imports of non-food consumer 
goods as the main reason fQSD0Cf`Qed to win a contract to supply 
 
MINSK 00000918  003 OF 003 
 
 
equipment to Belarus' future nuclear power plant.  Under an 
agreement with Russia's Export-Import Bank signed in May 2007, 
Belarus was offered exceptionally favorable conditions to import 
Russian-made equipment. [Note: The GOB continues to explore several 
options, including Russian, European and American suppliers for this 
project.  End note.] 
 
---------------------- 
¶13.  Quote of the Week 
---------------------- 
 
Leonid Kovalyov, leader of the state-sponsored BRSM Belarusian 
Republican Youth Union, espousing the government line on the Malady 
Front: 
 
"I don't particularly have anything against Malady Front.  I just 
don't understand how people who work to destabilize the country can 
say that they care about youth.  Let Malady Front prove through 
their actions that they are capable of doing something useful for 
youth." 
 
 
Stewart