BELARUS WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - AUGUST 21, 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000287

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON BO
SUBJECT: BELARUS WEEKLY POL/ECON REPORT - AUGUST 21, 2009

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1. The following are brief items of interest compiled by
Embassy Minsk.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Civil Society
--------------

- Yuri Leonov Attributes His Release to High Attention of Media
and Foreign Embassies (para. 2)
- "For Freedom" Activist in Gomel Fined For White-Red-White, EU
Flags and a Banner (para. 3)
- Case 14 Participant Ales Streltsov Seeking Amnesty (para. 4)
- "For Freedom" Coordinator Fined $493 for Watching Flash Mob in
Central Brest (para. 5)
- Malady Front Activists Fined for Anti-Corruption Protest
(para. 6)
- BPF Activists Dismissed or Fined over Celebration of Banned
Independence Day (para. 7)
- First Positives for H1N1 Flu Virus Accounted for in Belarus
(para. 8)

Domestic Economy
--------------

- IMF Mission Comes to Minsk for SBA Review and Consultations
(para. 9)
- Belarusian-Venezuelan Oil Extracting JV Given Three More Oil
Fields in Venezuela (para. 10)
- World Bank to Issue Loan for the Construction of Waste
Recycling Factory in Grodno (para. 11)
- Lukashenka Amends His Edict on Ecological Tax (para. 12)
- Through-July Production of Mineral Fertilizers Down 51.7
Percent (para. 13)
- Belarus Posts 8.8 Percent On-The-Year Increase in Agricultural
Production (para. 14)

Quote of the Week (para. 15)
--------------

--------------
Civil Society
--------------


2. Yuri Leonov Attributes His Release to High Attention of
Media and Foreign Embassies

Yury Leonov, one of the three Volkovysk activists arrested in
February 2009, commented August 19 on his release from a
pre-trial detention center. He attributed his release to the
"practical completion" of the investigation into his case. He
also linked his release to the high level of attention paid to
his case by the media, along with EU and U.S. embassies. Leonov
dismissed all accusations against him, Nikolai Avtukhovich and
Vlarimir Osipenko as absurd and groundless but did not elaborate
as he had signed a non-disclosure agreement. He faulted the
Belarusian Court system and law enforcement agencies for failure
to abide by the provisions of international law, lack of
independence and disregard for citizens' rights. He urged
Belarusian entrepreneurs to speak up, unite and fight for their
rights. Raisa Mikhailovskaya, Head of the Human Rights Center,
informed that Belarusian Human Rights defenders plan to appeal
to the world leaders to hold an independent international
investigation into this criminal case as they view the three
activists "prisoners of conscience".


3. "For Freedom" Activist in Gomel Fined For White-Red-White, EU
Flags and a Banner

According to media reports, "For Freedom" activist Zinaida
Shumilina was fined August 18 by the Administrative Commission
of Sovetsky district in Gomel the equivalent of $62 for
attaching Belarus' historic white-red-white and EU flags, as
well as a "Hunger Protest" banner to her private house in Gomel.
The flags and the banner were on display in June when she was
showing solidarity with Vladimir Katsora and other opposition
activists in Gomel who were on a hunger-strike to protest fines
and a sentence imposed for an action in commemoration of the
disappearance of former Interior Minister Yuri Zakharenko.


4. Case 14 Participant Ales Streltsov Seeking Amnesty

According to media reports, Case 14 participant Ales Streltsov,
who was not granted amnesty under the law passed on May 5, 2009,
was sentenced to correctional labor in June 2009 as a softer
substitute for his house arrest, to which he was sentenced in
April 2008. Seeking to be included in the amnesty, he appealed
the mitigation of his original sentence to the Minsk City Court
but was denied in July 2009. Post contacted Mr. Streltsov on
August 20 to check on the status of his case. He clarified that
he forwarded an appeal to the Supreme Court on August 13.


5. "For Freedom" Coordinator Fined $493 for Watching a Flash Mob

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in Central Brest

Belapan carries a report of "For Freedom" Coordinator Denis
Turchenyak being fined $493 on August 17. Denis saw Malady
Front activist Mikhail Ilyin being arrested by plain-clothed
officers as the two activists were watching a flash mob staged
by democratic youth in central Brest. Denis followed the
officers and Mikhail, was arrested too and was later charged
with defying police requirements. He was released later during
the day, while Mikhail spent the night in the police office and
will be tried on August 25.


6. Malady Front Activists Fined for Anti-Corruption Protest

According to media reports, the court in the city of Baranovichi
fined Malady Front activists Pyotr Ruzov ($86),Yuri Bogdanovich
($61),Semyon Bylinsky and Artyom Lastovetsky ($49 each) for an
anti-corruption picket in front of the city government building.
They applied for formal permission to picket the building well
in advance but were not allowed to protest near the government
building. The young people spent the night in a temporary
detention center before the trial on the next day.


7. BPF Activists Dismissed or Fined over Celebration of Banned
Independence Day

According to the press service of the Party of the Belarusian
Popular Front (BPF),activist of the "BPF Youth" group, Sergei
Zvyozdochkin, was dismissed from work and the leader of the
group, Aleksanr Kuznetsov, is facing a threat of dismissal over
their participation July 27 in an informal celebration in the
city of Gorodok (Vitebsk region) of Independence Day, which was
banned following Lukashenka's controversial 1996 referendum.
The two youth and the head of the Party office in Gorodok,
Leonid Avtukhov, came to the central square of the city with
Belarus' historic white-red-white flags and were chanting "Long
live Belarus." The city court found Mr. Avtukhov guilty of
organizing the unauthorized celebration and fined him $491.


8. First Cases Tests Positive for H1N1 Flu Virus in Belarus

According to information aired by the Health Ministry press
service on August 19, the first positive case of H1N1 Flu Virus,
a citizen of China, was accounted for in Belarus on the same
day. Interestingly, a few hours earlier Deputy Health Minister
Valentina Kachan told reporters that no other people have tested
positive for the virus in the country so far. The citizen of
China came to Belarus on August 10, started feeling bad two days
later and tested positive on August 19. Meanwhile, Russia's
Chief Medical Sanitation Officer Gennadiy Onishchenko opined on
August 13 that Belarus must have instances of swine flu because
the country is located in the center of Europe.

Additionally, three Belarusian children, who have returned from
a respite program in Great Britain, tested positive for the H1N1
flu virus. They have received adequate treatment in their native
city of Osipovichi (Mogilev region) and their condition is
satisfactory. Belarus Health Ministry issued an order requiring
that all Belarusian children (more than 13 thousand) returning
in August from their respite programs in the UK, Italy, Ireland,
Spain, Germany, Belgium and Austria will be quarantined for one
week. The Head of the Health Ministry Hygiene, Epidemiology and
Sickness Prevention Department, Yuri Fyodorov, told a news
service that Belarus possesses all necessary medicines for virus
treatment and the sick children were hospitalized not because
their health condition was serious, but to comply with WHO
recommendations and to avoid spreading the virus.

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Domestic Economy
--------------


9. IMF Mission Comes to Minsk for SBA Review and Consultations

According to the IMF Resident Representative in Belarus,
Nataliya Kolyadina, the IMF mission led by the IMF Mission Chief
to Belarus, Chris Jarvis, came to Minsk on August 18 and will
stay until September 2 to conduct the second review of Belarus'
compliance with the IMF's $3.52 billion Stand-By Arrangement
(SBA.) The GOB is seeking to receive two more tranches under
the SBA totaling $1.35 billion before the end of the year. In
addition, the mission will hold consultations with the GOB, the
National Bank and the Presidential Administration on Belarus'
economic development over the last year and its prospects in the
years to come. The Director of the IMF's European Department,
Marek Belka, is expected to join the mission for his August
24-26 meetings with Belarus' senior officials.


10. Belarusian-Venezuelan Oil Extracting JV Given Three More Oil
Fields in Venezuela

According to media reports, members of the Belarusian-Venezuelan
high-level commission co-chaired by Lukashenka's aide Viktor

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Sheiman and Venezuela's Vice President Ramon Karrisales have
agreed at their meeting in Minsk August 17 that the
Belarusian-Venezuelan oil extracting JV will be given three more
oil fields in Venezuela. Thus, the JV is expected to double its
oil extraction in Venezuela next year bringing it to one million
barrels. The Commission members have also agreed on a joint
development of natural gas fields and cooperation in metallurgy.
According to Viktor Sheiman, cooperation plans also include
establishing Belarusian wheel tractor and truck assemblies in
Venezuela, as well as "hundreds of millions of USD" Venezuelan
investments in Belarus.


11. World Bank to Issue Loan for the Construction of Waste
Recycling Factory in Grodno

Prime-TASS news agency quotes the Head of the Municipal Services
Department of the Grodno city government Nikolai Rusakevich as
saying during public hearings in Grodno on August 19 that the
World Bank will issue $41 million loan for the construction of
the first part of the solid household waste recycling factory
outside the city of Grodno. The loan, which will be paid for
from the local and central budgets, is expected to help reduce
the number of waste landfills in Grodno region. Ultimately, the
factory, when the second part is commissioned, will produce
biogas, which will be burned to produce electricity. However,
the second part of the factory is not ready yet.


12. Lukashenka Amends His Edict on Ecological Tax

According to the presidential press service, Lukashenka signed
decree 421 on August 14 to amend his own decree signed in May
2007 on ecological tax. The amendments include an exemption
from the ecological tax for businesses whose non-hazardous waste
during the year does not exceed 50 tons. In addition, the tax
will not be levied on products destroyed over the loss of their
consumer qualities as well as the waste generated in the
production of liquor, beer and soft drinks. The tax will start
to be levied on products that contain 50 and more percent of
volatile substances. The press service noted that the edict is
a part of a consistent plan implemented by the GOB to liberalize
the economy.


13. Through-July Production of Mineral Fertilizers Down 51.7
Percent

According to data posted by the National Statistics Committee on
August 15, production of mineral fertilizers plummeted on the
year through July by 51.7 percent. The fall in the production
of Belarus' major export item, potassium fertilizers, was the
deepest at 58.9 percent. Production of nitrogen and phosphate
fertilizers were down 5.6 percent and up 7.2 percent
respectively.


14. Belarus Posts 8.8 Percent On-The-Year Increase in
Agricultural Produce

A source in the National Statistic Committee told Prime-TASS
news agency on August 17 that the country's through-July
agricultural production increased on the year by 8.8 percent and
totaled the equivalent of $4.2 billion.

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Quote of the Week
--------------


15. During his working visit to Vitebsk region on August 20
Lukashenka commented on his policy towards the EU:

"The agenda is there. I do not want to list positive things that
we started to have with the EU, something that we have already
done. I thanked them more than once for the support provided to
us by the IMF and certain countries. I just want to say about
one problem, shall I say, warn Europeans: if they believe that
they will keep making conditions counting that Lukashenka has no
way out (that's what Russia thought some time ago) as his
relations with Russia are bad~ We have good relations with
Russia. We have excellent relations with Russia. I am just
making a reservation: we have problems in our mutual relations.
That is true. But someone who does nothing has no problems.
Because we do something, we do have unresolved issues. If
someone in the West believes that our relations with Russia got
spoiled and Lukashenka can be forced to release all criminals
from prisons and change the law tomorrow, they are all wrong."
MILLER