Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MINSK1003
2007-12-07 15:31:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Minsk
Cable title:
EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - December 07, 2007
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 001003
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON ENRG KCRM BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - December 07, 2007
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 001003
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON ENRG KCRM BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - December 07, 2007
1. The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy
Minsk.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Civil Society
--------------
- Opposition Activist Expelled From University (para. 2)
- Lebedko Questions Prisoner Klimov's Health (para. 3)
- Police Arrest Human Trafficker in Minsk (para. 4)
- Local Entrepreneur Leader Briefly Detained (para. 5)
- Entrepreneur Activist Audited Again (para. 6)
- Activist for Disabled Critical of GOB Policies (para. 7)
Domestic Economy
--------------
- Consumer Income and Spending Figures Released (para. 8)
- Lukashenko to Ban Agricultural Machinery Imports (para. 9)
International Trade
--------------
- Trade Deficit Rises (para. 10)
Quote of the Week (para. 11)
--------------
--------------
Civil Society
--------------
2. Opposition Activist Expelled From University
Polotsk State University administrators December 5 expelled
sophomore opposition activist Ekaterina Solovyova. University
officials cited "academic failure" as the reason for the expulsion,
despite her high academic standing. The expulsion comes less than a
month after Solovyova was charged with acting on behalf of an
unregistered organization and defacing a national flag. Solovyova
will appeal the decision and her classmates have begun collecting
signatures in protest.
3. Lebedko Questions Prisoner Klimov's Health
Anatoly Lebedko, leader of the United Civic Party, filed a complaint
December 4 with authorities and demanded an investigation into the
health and living conditions of imprisoned activist Andrey Klimov.
Klimov, a diabetic, has been serving a prison sentence at a high
security facility and was recently hospitalized for treatment of
various heart conditions. Acting Chief of the Interior Ministry's
Department of Corrections Yuri Borinkov countered that Klimov's
condition is "satisfactory," though he did acknowledge that prison
administrators had seized food from Klimov.
4. Police Arrest Human Trafficker in Minsk
Minsk police arrested a 25-year-old foreign citizen December 1
engaged in trafficking Belarusian women to the Baltics. Police
arrested the man at a bus station while he was attempting to traffic
two women aged 24 and 28 to Riga for sexual exploitation.
5. Local Entrepreneur Leader Briefly Detained
Police briefly detained Gomel-based National Coordinating Council of
Entrepreneurs member Irina Kaminskaya November 30. Though she was
released without charges after being held at a police station for
two and a half hours, authorities confiscated 300 fliers in her
possession publicizing an entrepreneur rally to take place December
10.
6. Entrepreneur Activist Audited Again
Tax authorities and economic police initiated a surprise audit
December 5 of a business owned by Aleksandr Makeyev, leader of the
unregistered small business association For Free Development of
Enterprise. The new audit comes days before a December 10
demonstration organized by the association, and just two weeks after
the company's last audit, which tax authorities conducted before a
nation-wide strike by market vendors.
7. Activist for Disabled Critical of GOB Policies
Belarusian Association of Handicapped People leader Vladimir
Potapenko held a press conference December 3 criticizing the GOB's
policies regarding state support for the disabled. Potapenko
asserted that the new law cutting social benefits would be unfairly
detrimental to the disabled and should be reconsidered. Of 512,500
disabled people in Belarus, only 42,000 are officially registered
MINSK 00001003 002 OF 002
with local social assistance centers and 72,000 do not receive any
form of state support. Eighty percent of the disabled are
unemployed. The association owns 170 enterprises that employ 1,747
disabled persons, though one third of the businesses are bankrupt.
--------------
Domestic Economy
--------------
8. Consumer Income and Spending Figures Released
According to the Belarusian Ministry of Economics, consumer spending
per family increased 19.2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter
of 2007. Belarusian family spending averaged 859,300 rubles (USD
400) in the period from July through September. On average, 41.3
percent of income was spent on food, 34.6 percent on non-food goods
and 21.8 percent on services. Thirty-two percent of households had
a per capita monthly income between 150,000 and 300,000 rubles (USD
70 to 140) and 38.9 percent of households had per capita incomes
between 300,000 and 500,000 (USD 140 to 234). Households with a per
capita income of over 500,000 rubles accounted for 23.8 percent of
the population; almost half of these are in Minsk.
9. Lukashenko to Ban Agricultural Machinery Imports
Aleksandr Lukashenko announced November 29 a ban on imports of
agricultural machinery to begin next year, citing the large share
machinery contributes to the country's growing trade deficit. The
regime's import substitution plan calls for an increase of domestic
production to replace the USD 200 million worth of machinery Belarus
imports annually. Lukashenko also announced plans to introduce
harsher penalties for managers responsible for producing shoddy
machinery, blaming careless management for 90 percent of all
defects.
--------------
International Trade
--------------
10. Trade Deficit Rises
Belarus' Statistics Ministry announced November 30 that the
country's foreign commodity trade deficit doubled to USD 3.2 billion
through October from USD 1.6 billion last year. The trade deficit
with CIS countries grew 18.7 percent to USD 5.8 billion while the
surplus with non-CIS countries shrank 18.1 percent to USD 2.7
billion.
--------------
11. Quote of the Week
--------------
Chairman of the Belarusian Central Electoral Committee Lidiya
Yermoshina, after declaring that elections in Belarus are no worse
than they are in Russia, vigorously denying any similarities in the
electoral processes of the two countries:
"Belarus and Russia have absolutely different electoral systems. In
Russia they vote for parties. In Belarus we vote for specific
candidates. Any parallels drawn [between Belarus and Russia] are
absolutely incorrect."
Moore
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON ENRG KCRM BO
SUBJECT: EMBASSY MINSK WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - December 07, 2007
1. The following are brief items of interest compiled by Embassy
Minsk.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Civil Society
--------------
- Opposition Activist Expelled From University (para. 2)
- Lebedko Questions Prisoner Klimov's Health (para. 3)
- Police Arrest Human Trafficker in Minsk (para. 4)
- Local Entrepreneur Leader Briefly Detained (para. 5)
- Entrepreneur Activist Audited Again (para. 6)
- Activist for Disabled Critical of GOB Policies (para. 7)
Domestic Economy
--------------
- Consumer Income and Spending Figures Released (para. 8)
- Lukashenko to Ban Agricultural Machinery Imports (para. 9)
International Trade
--------------
- Trade Deficit Rises (para. 10)
Quote of the Week (para. 11)
--------------
--------------
Civil Society
--------------
2. Opposition Activist Expelled From University
Polotsk State University administrators December 5 expelled
sophomore opposition activist Ekaterina Solovyova. University
officials cited "academic failure" as the reason for the expulsion,
despite her high academic standing. The expulsion comes less than a
month after Solovyova was charged with acting on behalf of an
unregistered organization and defacing a national flag. Solovyova
will appeal the decision and her classmates have begun collecting
signatures in protest.
3. Lebedko Questions Prisoner Klimov's Health
Anatoly Lebedko, leader of the United Civic Party, filed a complaint
December 4 with authorities and demanded an investigation into the
health and living conditions of imprisoned activist Andrey Klimov.
Klimov, a diabetic, has been serving a prison sentence at a high
security facility and was recently hospitalized for treatment of
various heart conditions. Acting Chief of the Interior Ministry's
Department of Corrections Yuri Borinkov countered that Klimov's
condition is "satisfactory," though he did acknowledge that prison
administrators had seized food from Klimov.
4. Police Arrest Human Trafficker in Minsk
Minsk police arrested a 25-year-old foreign citizen December 1
engaged in trafficking Belarusian women to the Baltics. Police
arrested the man at a bus station while he was attempting to traffic
two women aged 24 and 28 to Riga for sexual exploitation.
5. Local Entrepreneur Leader Briefly Detained
Police briefly detained Gomel-based National Coordinating Council of
Entrepreneurs member Irina Kaminskaya November 30. Though she was
released without charges after being held at a police station for
two and a half hours, authorities confiscated 300 fliers in her
possession publicizing an entrepreneur rally to take place December
10.
6. Entrepreneur Activist Audited Again
Tax authorities and economic police initiated a surprise audit
December 5 of a business owned by Aleksandr Makeyev, leader of the
unregistered small business association For Free Development of
Enterprise. The new audit comes days before a December 10
demonstration organized by the association, and just two weeks after
the company's last audit, which tax authorities conducted before a
nation-wide strike by market vendors.
7. Activist for Disabled Critical of GOB Policies
Belarusian Association of Handicapped People leader Vladimir
Potapenko held a press conference December 3 criticizing the GOB's
policies regarding state support for the disabled. Potapenko
asserted that the new law cutting social benefits would be unfairly
detrimental to the disabled and should be reconsidered. Of 512,500
disabled people in Belarus, only 42,000 are officially registered
MINSK 00001003 002 OF 002
with local social assistance centers and 72,000 do not receive any
form of state support. Eighty percent of the disabled are
unemployed. The association owns 170 enterprises that employ 1,747
disabled persons, though one third of the businesses are bankrupt.
--------------
Domestic Economy
--------------
8. Consumer Income and Spending Figures Released
According to the Belarusian Ministry of Economics, consumer spending
per family increased 19.2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter
of 2007. Belarusian family spending averaged 859,300 rubles (USD
400) in the period from July through September. On average, 41.3
percent of income was spent on food, 34.6 percent on non-food goods
and 21.8 percent on services. Thirty-two percent of households had
a per capita monthly income between 150,000 and 300,000 rubles (USD
70 to 140) and 38.9 percent of households had per capita incomes
between 300,000 and 500,000 (USD 140 to 234). Households with a per
capita income of over 500,000 rubles accounted for 23.8 percent of
the population; almost half of these are in Minsk.
9. Lukashenko to Ban Agricultural Machinery Imports
Aleksandr Lukashenko announced November 29 a ban on imports of
agricultural machinery to begin next year, citing the large share
machinery contributes to the country's growing trade deficit. The
regime's import substitution plan calls for an increase of domestic
production to replace the USD 200 million worth of machinery Belarus
imports annually. Lukashenko also announced plans to introduce
harsher penalties for managers responsible for producing shoddy
machinery, blaming careless management for 90 percent of all
defects.
--------------
International Trade
--------------
10. Trade Deficit Rises
Belarus' Statistics Ministry announced November 30 that the
country's foreign commodity trade deficit doubled to USD 3.2 billion
through October from USD 1.6 billion last year. The trade deficit
with CIS countries grew 18.7 percent to USD 5.8 billion while the
surplus with non-CIS countries shrank 18.1 percent to USD 2.7
billion.
--------------
11. Quote of the Week
--------------
Chairman of the Belarusian Central Electoral Committee Lidiya
Yermoshina, after declaring that elections in Belarus are no worse
than they are in Russia, vigorously denying any similarities in the
electoral processes of the two countries:
"Belarus and Russia have absolutely different electoral systems. In
Russia they vote for parties. In Belarus we vote for specific
candidates. Any parallels drawn [between Belarus and Russia] are
absolutely incorrect."
Moore