BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
20/03/2008
Belarus warns West about closer Moscow ties
By Andrei Makhovsky
MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko warned the West, which has placed sanctions on the former Soviet state due to its human rights record, that further pressure would push Minsk closer to Russia.
Belarus is involved in a diplomatic spat with the United States, which dubs the country the "last dictatorship in Europe" and has imposed a travel ban on Lukashenko after his re-election to a third term, which Washington says was rigged.
U.S. ambassador Karen Stewart left Minsk temporarily last week, after two requests for her departure over financial sanctions placed by Washington on a state company.
"I think that in the near future, under such huge pressure from the West on Belarus, our relations with Russia will become even closer," Lukashenko told the Austria Press Agency (APA), state controlled BelTA agency said on Thursday.
Ties between the United States and Russia have been strained over a number of issues including Washington's proposals to deploy a missile shield in eastern Europe and potential NATO membership of fellow ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine.
Lukashenko has been promoting a post-Soviet merger with Russia since he came to power in 1994, but has tried to improve relations with the European Union after rowing with Moscow over the price of gas.
The United States and the EU both say Belarussian authorities persecute independent media, rig elections and jail opponents, whose immediate release both have demanded.
The United States and the EU both say Belarussian authorities persecute independent media, rig elections and jail opponents, whose immediate release both have demanded.
Stewart said on Tuesday Washington would only hold talks on easing sanctions if Belarus releases the most prominent of these detainees, Alexander Kozulin, who ran against Lukashenko in the 2006 poll that kept him in power.
Belarus shot back on Thursday suggesting Stewart would not be allowed back to Minsk until financial sanctions placed on the state oil products company Belneftekhim are lifted.
"In the future, Belarus-U.S. dialogue will depend on the full abolition of sanctions aimed at Belarussian economic objects," a foreign ministry spokesman said when asked when U.S. ambassador Stewart could return.
Minsk had released some detainees over the past few months, earning cautious praise from the EU, which has also said ties may improve in the run up to September's parliamentary poll.
The EU has not made any statement on Belarus and its diplomatic spat with the United States in recent weeks, but Lukashenko fired a warning at the 27-member bloc on its borders.
"As for our relations with the European Union, then frankly speaking, I would like them to be better. It is absolutely unacceptable when the EU dances to the tune of the United States," he told the Austrian news agency.
In power since 1994, Lukashenko remains popular in the country of 10 million. He says his rule has saved ordinary people from the economic hardships and political chaos that other ex-Soviet states went through.
"Democracy in Belarus is the same as in Austria," he told APA. "Democratic values in Belarus are no lower than in other European countries. What is unsatisfactory in the democratic portrait of Belarus? What more does Europe need from Belarus?"
(Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; writing by Sabina Zawadzki)
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2083654420080320?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
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