BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
12/03/2008
Factbox: Belarus and its relations with the West
(Reuters) - U.S. ambassador Karen Stewart was leaving Belarus temporarily on Wednesday, her embassy in the ex-Soviet state said.
Here is some background on relations between Belarus and the West over the last 10 years.
DISPUTES:
* In March 1997, Serzh Alexandrov, a first secretary at the U.S. Embassy, was arrested at a protest against President Alexander Lukashenko's policies and told to leave the country.
-- The incident underscored the deteriorating ties between Belarus and the United States. The State Department announced it had cut off $40 million in aid to Belarus due to its human rights record.
* Ambassadors of several EU states, as well as of the United States and Japan, went home in June 1998 after local authorities abruptly denied access to their residences in Drozdy near Minsk and offered them a new location. They returned in January 1999.
* U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in April 2005 "it was time for change" in Belarus in an effort to stoke opposition against what she called Lukashenko's dictatorship.
-- Russia and the United States clashed over Rice's comments as Moscow's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, rebuffed a call by the U.S. Secretary of State for a change in what she branded central Europe's "last true dictatorship".
* Western countries have imposed a range of sanctions against Belarus. The United States and European Union have barred entry to Lukashenko on grounds that he rigged his 2006 re-election.
FRIENDS OF LUKASHENKO:
* Lukashenko has promoted a post-Soviet merger with traditional ally Russia since coming to power in 1994. But after quarrelling in 2007 with Moscow over energy prices, he called for better relations with the EU.
* Unwelcome in most Western capitals, Lukashenko has developed cordial relations with China, Cuba, Iran and Libya. Last December Lukashenko held talks in Caracas with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
-- Belarus began extracting oil in Venezuela and hopes to produce 900,000 metric tons annually to lessen dependence on Russian energy.
-- Chavez said last June that his country and Belarus, both vocal critics of Washington, were "brothers" against a "world empire" and vowed to pursue joint economic projects to consolidate their ties.
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSL1232441320080312
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