BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/01/2008

Belarusian President Threatens To Expel U.S. Amdassador Confirms Policy On Small Businesses And Calls 2007 "Most Difficult" Year For Modern Belarus

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on December 30 that U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart will be the first person expelled from Belarus if Washington introduces new economic sanctions against Minsk, Belapan and RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported. "She attends opposition gatherings and speaks about the possibility of economic sanctions against Belarus, fueling the situation," Lukashenka said. "Let the American ambassador mind her own problems, as she may leave her position in Belarus early," he added. In November, the U.S. Treasury Department froze all assets under U.S. jurisdiction belonging to Belarus's largest petrochemical company, Belnaftakhim, and its representatives, and forbade Americans from doing business with the company on the grounds that it is controlled by Lukashenka. Stewart said in December that the United States intends to impose economic sanctions against other Belarusian enterprises unless the authorities release political prisoners. AM

President Lukashenka on December 30 confirmed his intention to make business conditions the same for small-business owners and legal business entities, Belapan reported. Lukashenka said that small-business owners who do not have legal entity status sometimes employ up to 100 people and pay much less in taxes than similar enterprises operating as a legal business entities. "If you want to operate in this way, then please register your enterprise and pay all taxes," Lukashenka said. A presidential decree that came into force on January 1 bans certain small-business owners from hiring employees other than three family members. The restriction triggered protests among entrepreneurs, who demand that the limitations on employees be abolished. In another decree, Lukashenka gave small-business owners until March 1 to register their businesses as legal entities through a simplified procedure. AM

In his New Year's address to the nation on December 31, President Lukashenka said 2007 was "the most difficult year in the history of our young state," due to "extremely severe political and economic pressure, the imposition of various sanctions, and torrents of lies and misinformation," as well as a hike in energy prices, Belapan reported. "In order to divert attention from their domestic problems, the leaders of some countries suddenly became concerned about the situation in Belarus, ignoring the fact that this is a sovereign European nation, not a part of their own countries," Lukashenka said. "What such democratization leads to became clearly visible in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, as well as on the territory of the former Soviet Union," where, he said, unspecified countries have experienced "endless political intrigues, corruption, economic recession, and devastation." "But the most important thing is that these countries have become wholly dependent on their 'teachers,'" Lukashenka said. "They can't forgive us that Belarus...does not consent to become their puppet." AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/01/3-cee/cee-020108.asp