LUKASHENKO'S NEW GOVERNMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000514

SIPDIS

DEPT ALSO FOR INR/B
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR BO
SUBJECT: LUKASHENKO'S NEW GOVERNMENT


MINSK 00000514 001.2 OF 002



1. (U) SUMMARY: President Aleksandr Lukashenko has formed a
new government with a more streamlined organization and new
directives relating to information media, energy, housing,
construction, and trade. New cabinet appointments included a
new deputy prime minister and five new ministers: energy,
information and information technology (IT),labor and social
protection, health, and architecture and construction. END
SUMMARY.

New Appointments
--------------


2. (U) On May 5 President Lukashenko signed ordinance no. 290
to form a new government. New cabinet appointments to the
government include: Viktor Burya as Deputy Prime Minister;
Aleksandr Ozerets as Minister of Energy; Nikolai Pantelei as
Minister of Information and IT; Vladmiir Potupchik as
Minister of Labor and Social Protection; Vasily Zharko as
Minister of Health; and Aleksandr Seleznev as Minister of
Architecture and Construction. Incumbents will remain in all
other cabinet posts. (See paragraphs 8 through 13 for
biographical information on the new appointments.)

New Directives to Cabinet
--------------


3. (U) Meanwhile, President Lukashenko and Prime Minister
Sergei Sidorsky issued new directives to the ministries. On
May 5, during the president's first meeting with his new
cabinet, Lukashenko demanded that the government improve the
quality of Belarusian newspapers, magazines, and broadcast
programs. He criticized the media for lacking the careful
analysis and an ideological pivot necessary to counteract
foreign information pressure. Lukashenko was quoted, "State
printing plants and publishing companies publish all that
flows in."


4. (U) Lukashenko directed the new energy minister, Aleksandr
Ozerets, to upgrade Belarus' power generation system, raise
energy efficiency, and increase consumption of local energy
resources as part of an overall modernization program through
the year 2010. The next day, Sidorsky directed the energy
ministry to formulate proposals for development of Russian
natural gas fields by Belarusian companies.


5. (U) Regarding housing and construction, Lukashenko noted
that more than 50 percent of all complaints received by the
government relate to housing management. He directed the
housing ministry to cut costs and improve services.
Lukashenko also criticized the construction ministry for
shortages in cement and break stone and for failing to
develop building materials companies. He ordered more
investment and innovation aimed at increasing domestic output
of cement and other building materials.


6. (U) In an effort to boost Belarus' foreign trade,
Lukashenko ordered the new ministers to revamp the system of
purchasing imported raw sugar which he claimed cost the state
at least USD 60 million. He also ordered the head of the
Belarusian State Petrochemical Concern (Belneftekhim) to
learn to how to sell Belarusian petrochemical products
directly to consumers without middlemen distributors. He
proposed modernizing petrochemical enterprises, particularly
the artificial fiber plants in Mogilev and Svetlogorsk in
Gomel region.


7. (U) These new appointments and directives coincided with
an organizational restructuring designed to streamline
government. This restructuring includes transforming the
three-level government to two levels and reducing the number
of agencies from 47 to 39.

Biographical Information
--------------


8. (U) The new Deputy Prime Minister, Viktor Burya, served as
deputy head of Minsk city government from 2004 to 2006, head
of the Oktyabrsky district administration from 2000 to 2004,
first deputy head of the Oktyabrsky district administration
from 1998 to 2000, and deputy director general for
construction at the electronic enterprise Integral from 1996
to 1998. He was trained as a construction engineer at the
Belarusian Polytechnic Institute, 1970-1975. Burya was born
on June 8, 1953 in the town of Pestovo in Russia's Novgorod
region.


9. (U) Aleksandr Vladimirovich Ozerets replaces Aleksandr
Ageyev as Minister of Energy. Mr. Ozerets most recently
served as general director of Vitebskenergo, a subsidiary of

MINSK 00000514 002.2 OF 002


the state-run power generation and distribution company
Belenergo in the Vitebsk region, for which he has worked
since 1976. He graduated from the Belarusian Polytechnic
Institute in 1976 and the Management Academy of the BSSR
Council of Ministers in 1993. Mr. Ozerets was born on May 9,
1953 in the village of Gorbatsevichi.


10. (U) Nikolai Petrovich Pantelei replaces Vladimir
Potupchik as Minister for Information and Information
Technology. Mr. Pantelei served as First Deputy of the
President of the Minsk City Executive Committee, 2005, Head
of Administration of Oktyabrsky Region of Minsk, 2004-2005,
First Deputy Head of Administration of Leninsky Region of
Minsk, 2003-2004, and director of the Minsk Electric and
Mechanical Factory, 1994-2003. He graduated from the Minsk
Radio-Technical Institute in 1975. Pantelei was born in 1953
in the village of Kostyuki.


11. (U) Vladimir Nikolaevich Potupchik replaces Antonina
Morova as Minister Labor and Social Protection. In 2004, Mr.
Potupchik was named Assistant to the President of the
Republic of Belarus and Main Inspector of the City of Minsk.
From 2001 to 2004, he served as Deputy President of the
Executive Committee of Gomel Region. From 1998 to 2001, Mr.
Potupchik served as the President of the Committee for
Economics and Market Relations of the Executive Committee of
Gomel Region. He graduated from the Belarusian Polytechnic
Institute in 1980 and the Russian Academy of Governmental
Service of the President of the Russian Federation in 2002.
Mr. Potupchik was born in 1958 in the city of Svetlogorsk.


12. (U) Aleksandr Ilich Seleznev replaces Gennadi Kurochki as
Minister of Architecture and Construction. In 2001, Mr.
Seleznev was named a director of an organ of the Council of
Ministers of the Republic of Belarus. From 1998 to 2001 he
served as Deputy to the President of Executive Committee of
Mogilev Region. Between 1989 and 1998 he worked in
engineering and administrative positions in the system for
village construction. He graduated from Novopolotskyi
Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Seleznev was born in 1956 in
Tukolski Zharkovski Region of Kalinsky Region of Russia.


13. (U) Vasily Ivanovich Zharko replaces Viktor Rudenko as
Minister of Health. Mr. Zharko was named General Secretary of
the Belarusian Red Cross in 2005. He previously served as
general director of "Belprofsoyuzkurort," 2003-2005, and
Deputy Chief Physician of the Brest Regional Children's
Hospital, 2002-2003. Mr. Zharko graduated the Minsk State
Medical Institute in 1984.


14. (SBU) COMMENT: Since most incumbent ministers will remain
in their posts, Lukashenko's "new government" is little more
than a minor reshuffling of the old government. Lukashenko's
flurry of new directives appears at odds with his earlier
claims that he would devolve more policymaking authority to
the government. Moreover, his statements underscore his
Soviet-style approach and lack of understanding of market
forces. In any case, it is interesting to note that
Lukashenko has yet to name Anatoly Tozik's replacement as
head of the State Control Committee.

Krol