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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVL #0261/01 1120747
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210747Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY VILNIUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2193
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0211
RUCNFB/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VILNIUS 000261 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AMEMBASSY MINSK SENDS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG KCRM BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - April 18, 2008 
 
¶1.  The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy 
Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
- Vitebsk Opposition Activists Fined and Detained (para. 2) 
- Independent Journalist Jailed (para. 3) 
- Internet Child Porn Ring Members Arrested (para. 4) 
- Activists Pray for Return of Monastery (para. 5) 
- Activist Fined for Protest against Chemical Plant (para. 6) 
- Soligorsk Malady Front Members Fined Heavily (para. 7) 
 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
- Decree Issued to Promote Investment (para. 8) 
- Belarus to Reform Telecoms to Meet WTO Requirements (para. 9) 
 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
- Priorbank Financed 20 Percent of 2007 Crude Imports (para. 10) 
- Belneftekhim Needs USD 6 Billion in Investment (para. 11) 
 
Quote of the Week (para. 12) 
----------------- 
 
------------- 
Civil Society 
------------- 
 
¶2.  Vitebsk Opposition Activists Fined and Detained 
 
Police detained opposition youths Yuliya Mikhailova and Viktoriya 
and Kristina Chizh in central Vitebsk April 16.  Activists gathered 
to demonstrate in solidarity with imprisoned opposition members 
Aleksandr Kozulin, Andrey Kim, and Sergey Parsyukevich.  Police 
ordered the demonstrators to disperse and apprehended the three 
youths, releasing them four hours later without charges.  In a 
separate incident, prominent Vitebsk-based opposition activist Boris 
Khomayda was fined BYR 175,000 (USD 82) April 11 for distribution of 
independent printed media.  The police arrested Khomayda March 14 
and seized copies of the independent newspapers "Nasha Niva" and 
"Narodnaya Volya." 
 
¶3.  Independent Journalist Jailed 
 
A Minsk district court sentenced independent Borisov-based 
journalist Anatoliy Udovichenko April 15 to two weeks in jail for 
distribution of illegal leaflets.  Police arrested Udovichenko the 
previous day in central Minsk and charged him with violating 
regulations governing mass events.  Udovichenko was allegedly 
passing out leaflets urging individuals to attend a demonstration 
set for April 26 to mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy. 
 
¶4.  Internet Child Porn Ring Members Arrested 
 
Counter-Cyber Crime Department Deputy Director Andrey Miklashevich 
informed the media April 11 that three organizers of a child 
pornography ring were arrested in Belarus in early 2008 on charges 
of distribution of pornographic material.  The ring operated via the 
internet and provided access to over 270 child pornography websites. 
 Miklashevich added that the department opened its investigation in 
June 2007 and that more than 10 suspects had already been 
questioned.  He also noted that police confiscated a database with 
users' credit card information and commended the FBI's assistance in 
collecting evidence to investigate the case. 
 
¶5.  Activists Pray for Return of Monastery 
 
Over 100 activists gathered on the steps of the former Bernardine 
monastery in central Minsk April 14 to pray for the return of the 
building to the St. Joseph Catholic community and to protest its 
conversion into a hotel and entertainment center.  They lit candles, 
read prayers, and sang religious hymns for about an hour.  Police 
observed the gathering, but no one was detained and the activists 
dispersed without incident. 
 
¶6.  Activist Fined for Protest against Chemical Plant 
 
A Maryina Gorka regional court sentenced Druzhniy resident Sergey 
Obrazovskiy to a BYR 1.4 million (USD 655) fine April 11 for 
organizing a rally there.  Over 500 Druzhniy residents gathered 
March 22 to protest the scheduled construction of a chemical 
 
VILNIUS 00000261  002 OF 002 
 
 
manufacturing and fertilizer recycling plant near the town.  The 
activist asserted that the authorities randomly arrested him as a 
scapegoat for protests, and that residents will launch another 
signature-collecting campaign to petition the Council of Ministers 
to halt the plant's construction.  An appeal previously sent to 
Aleksandr Lukashenko received no reply. 
 
¶7.  Soligorsk Malady Front Members Fined Heavily 
 
On April 11 a Soligorsk district police panel for juvenile 
delinquency fined under-aged Malady Front (MF) members Ivan Shilo 
and Kristina Samoilova BYR 1,050,000 (USD 490) and Andrey Tychina 
BYR 700,000 (USD 330) for participating in an unsanctioned rally in 
Soligorsk March 2 to protest social benefits cuts.  Shilo and 
Samoilova received additional fines, together with MF activist 
Grigoriy Ostapenya, for holding an unauthorized demonstration March 
25 to celebrate the Belarusian People's Republic's 90th anniversary. 
 Shilo's father also received a BYR 525,000 (USD 245) fine for his 
son's "poor behavior." 
 
---------------- 
Domestic Economy 
---------------- 
 
¶8.  Decree Issued to Promote Investment 
 
Aleksandr Lukashenko signed Edict 204 on April 14 allowing companies 
to reduce reported taxable profit in order to redirect funds towards 
investment in government-approved projects.  The edict, which comes 
into effect retroactively starting January 1, 2008, reverses the 
rule that forced businesses to use post-tax profits for investment. 
The edict applies only to investment in housing construction and 
repayment of bank loans issued for investment purposes. 
 
¶9.  Belarus to Reform Telecoms to Meet WTO Requirements 
 
The Ministry of Telecommunications announced April 15 that it is 
committed to further reform the country's telecommunications 
industry to ensure greater competition and compliance with WTO 
requirements.  State-owned Beltelecom is scheduled to lose its 
monopoly on transmitting internet traffic and its exclusive access 
to fixed-line telephony when Belarus' law on electronic 
communication is amended some time in autumn this year. 
 
------------------- 
International Trade 
------------------- 
 
¶10.  Priorbank Financed 20 Percent of 2007 Crude Imports 
 
According to Yelena Shishenko, a senior official of Belarus' private 
Priorbank, her institution financed 20 percent of the country's 
crude oil imports in 2007.  Shishenko made the announcement at an 
international conference on Belarus' oil and chemical industries in 
Minsk April 11.  Priorbank issued USD 1.7 billion worth of loans to 
Belarus' two oil refineries and other businesses that procure 
Russian crude oil for Belarus.  The current lending mechanism 
provides for banks to finance 80 percent of the cost and clients to 
pay 20 percent using oil and petroleum products as collateral. 
 
¶11.  Belneftekhim Needs USD 6 Billion in Investment 
 
Belneftekhim official Viktor Plotnikov announced at the conference 
noted above that the company and its subsidiaries plan to secure a 
total of USD 430 million in foreign investment in 2008.  He added 
that Belneftekhim currently has over 80 reconstruction and upgrade 
projects planned and will require more than USD 6 billion in 
investment by 2010.  Investment in the petrochemical industry as a 
whole should exceed USD 1.54 billion in 2008, an increase of 25 
percent from 2007. 
 
---------------------- 
¶12.  Quote of the Week 
---------------------- 
 
Aleksandr Lukashenko at a roundtable on educational reform, on why 
basic education should revert to the Soviet eleven-year system, from 
the current twelve-year model: 
 
How is it that educators on the one hand can talk about accelerated 
educational development for students, but on the other hand keep 17- 
and 18-year old young people behind school desks?  Seriously, it's 
already time for 18- and 19-year-old girls to start giving birth, 
and that's what they're already doing in your schools anyway. 
 
Moore 
Leader