VZCZCXRO3611
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSK #0027/01 0231339
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231339Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0076
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHSK/AMEMBASSY MINSK 0077

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000027 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON ENRG BO
SUBJECT: BELARUS WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - JANUARY 23, 2009 
 
MINSK 00000027  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy 
Minsk. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
Civil Society 
------------------ 
 
- Opposition Youth's Draft Order Suspended (para. 2) 
- Opposition Denied Venues (para. 3) 
- Demonstration Dispersed, Opposition Youth Leader Detained 
(para. 4) 
- Prominent Human Rights Center Applies for Registration (para. 
5) 
- Free Trade Union Member Convicted (para. 6) 
 
Domestic Economy 
---------------------------- 
 
- National Bank Says Hard Currency Deficit is no Longer a 
Problem (para. 7) 
- Growing Supplies of Unsold Products Make the Economy More 
Turbulent (para. 8) 
- Gas Prices for Legal Entities up 10 Percent as of January 1 
(para. 9) 
- Belarus and Russia to Sign Agreement on Peaceful Use of 
Nuclear Energy (para. 10) 
 
Quote of the Week (para. 11) 
---------------------------- 
 
------------------ 
Civil Society 
------------------ 
 
¶2. Opposition Youth's Draft Order Suspended 
 
A Minsk district court suspended draft orders January 22 for 
Belarusian Popular Front youth group leader Franak Vyachorka due 
to violations of draft procedures.  The National Military 
Hospital declared Vyachorka fit and eligible for military 
service on January 16 despite what the activist called an 
"improper" health examination.  Vyachorka was reportedly beaten 
by police officers at the hospital and forcefully transported to 
a draft office then later released.  His mother was also briefly 
detained at the draft office.  Vyachorka and Soligorsk-based 
Malady Front leader Ivan Shylo condemned their conscriptions as 
"politically motivated persecution" by means of "repressive 
medicine."  In a separate case, the Pinsk-based For Freedom 
movement activist Igor Solovey was conscripted January 20 in 
spite of a heart condition. 
 
¶3. Opposition Denied Meeting Venues 
 
The United Democratic Forces (UDF) announced on January 21 that 
they are postponing until February a conference to establish a 
group of over 900 activists to collect signatures and petition 
for democratic amendments to current electoral laws.  The 
decision came after Minsk city authorities denied leasing seven 
venues requested by the UDF for a January 25 meeting.  The UDF 
leaders expressed doubt that they would be able to find a 
suitable venue and may instead arrange an outdoor meeting. 
 
¶4. Demonstration Dispersed, Opposition Youth Leaders Detained 
 
On January 16, police dispersed opposition youth peacefully 
demonstrating in central Minsk to mark Solidarity Day in 
remembrance of disappeared Belarusian politicians.  No 
detentions were reported.  In a separate incident on January 16, 
the Maladaya Belarus youth group leader Artur Finkevich and his 
associate Sergey Kostylenko were arrested while distributing 
leaflets about the disappearances and interrogated at a police 
precinct.  The police released both activists without charge. 
 
¶5. Prominent Human Rights Center Applies for Registration 
 
On January 18, prominent human rights advocates, independent 
journalists, and civil society activists from across Belarus 
held a founding conference for the human rights center Novaya 
Vyasna aimed at enabling the center's official registration. 
The Vyasna center, deregistered in 2003 though still assisting 
regime victims, has been denied registration numerous times for 
various reasons.  The GOB also ignored the 2007 UN Human Rights 
Committee ruling that the organization should be re-registered 
and the group compensated for damages to the center. 
 
¶6. Free Trade Union Member Convicted 
 
On January 16, the Bobruisk City Court sentenced local factory 
worker and free trade union member Vassiliy Kurlyandchyk to 18 
months of community service for allegedly beating a factory 
manager in August 2008.  Kurlyandchyk claimed that he himself 
received head and brain injuries and was hospitalized for two 
 
MINSK 00000027  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
weeks as a result of the incident, and the incident and charges 
stem from the activist's multiple complaints to management over 
illegal salary deductions for allegedly producing flawed 
products.  Kurlyandchyk dismissed the allegations as 
"ungrounded" and will appeal to a higher court. 
 
---------------------------- 
Domestic Economy 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7. National Bank Says Cash Hard Currency Deficit is no Longer a 
Problem 
 
Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank Nikolai Luzgin 
told directors of Belarus' major industrial businesses, the 
Directors' Club, on January 16 that domestic banks are no longer 
deficient of cash hard currency for use in consumer exchange 
offices and said that currency supplies in the non-cash market 
have also increased.  Anecdotal evidence, however, reflects that 
industries seeking to buy imports with hard currency continue to 
encounter substantial difficulties.  Luzgin reported that 
Belarus and Russia have drafted an agreement to transfer 
payments for Russian energy supplies into Russian rubles (RYR). 
He opined that this would signficantly benefit the Russian 
economy and should make Belarus' eligible for another Russian 
loan of RYR 100 billion, which they applied for in December 2008. 
 
¶8. Growing Supplies of Unsold Products Bring Turmoil to Economy 
 
Speaking to the Directors' Club on January 16, Statistics 
Minister Vladimir Zinovsky said that the global financial and 
economic crisis caused a sharp increase in supplies of unsold 
industrial products between October and December 2008.  Stocks 
of manufactured trucks and tractors have grown two-fold; stocks 
of unsold potassium fertilizers have grown 21 times and 
polyethylene products - 94 times.   Last November, Belarusian 
industrial enterprises received only 8.2 percent of their net 
profits obtained in July 2008.  Deputy Economy Minister Andrei 
Tur added that inflation in the first week of January was 2.8 
percent. 
 
¶9. Gas Prices For Legal Entities up 10 Percent as of January 1 
 
The Economy Ministry issued a resolution on January 14 
increasing natural gas prices 10 percent for Belarusian legal 
entities and individual entrepreneurs as of January 1, 2009. 
While in January 2008 the price was USD 145 per one thousand 
cubic meters (tcm)  and in August 2008 it was USD 158.6 per tcm, 
the current price is USD 174 per tcm.  Until now, neither 
Belarus nor Russia have announced Russia's new natural gas price 
for Belarus in 2009.  Unofficial speculation estimates the 
likely price to be about USD 160 per tcm. 
 
¶10. Belarus and Russia to Sign Agreement on Peaceful Use of 
Nuclear Energy 
 
According to media reports, Russia and Belarus will finalize and 
sign an agreement in the first quarter of the year on the 
peaceful use of nuclear energy.  The agreement will entitle both 
sides to start direct talks on the construction of a nuclear 
power plant (NPP) in Belarus.  The GOB and Russia's State 
Corporation Rosatom held talks in Minsk on January 21 to discuss 
the details of the project.  Vice Premier Vladimir Semashko was 
quoted saying that the country's leadership is inclined to 
contract Russia's Atomstroiexport company to manage the NPP 
project. 
 
--------------------------- 
Quote of the Week 
--------------------------- 
 
¶11. During talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in 
the city of Chernigov January 20,  President Lukashenka said, 
 
"I would like to thank you for the enormous support that you 
provided at various levels while meeting with Europeans and 
Americans.  You should be credited for establishing a dialogue 
between Belarus and the West. . . We have always been together 
supporting each other in hard times~  There is no allergy in 
Belarus neither towards Ukraine as a state, nor towards 
Ukrainian industry." 
MILLER