BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
07/10/2008
Time To "Turn A Page" Between Belarus And West - OSCE
MINSK, Belarus (AFP)--The time has come for "turning a page" in ties between Belarus and the West, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said here Tuesday, despite recent elections denounced by opposition activists as a farce.
"It is time to start turning a page in Belarussian-European relations," Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, the chair of the OSCE, said.
Speaking as he met Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, the head of the ex-Soviet republic dubbed Europe's last dictatorship by Washington, Stubb said Europe's focus was turning east following the August war in Georgia.
"In the European Union, there is the mood that Belarus is moving in the so- called right direction," Stubb said.
"The opening of the West and the E.U. is really closely linked to breathing space given to the opposition recently," he said, referring to the release from prison in August of a key opposition leader, Alexander Kozulin, and two others.
Opposition candidates failed to win a single seat in parliamentary elections held on Sept. 28, a vote the OSCE admitted the following day had failed to meet Western democratic standards.
But Stubb indicated the West was inclined to pursue better relations with Belarus, saying "the key has been the possibility of the opposition to campaign" for votes.
Sandwiched between Russia and the E.U., Belarus is a pivotal state and a crucial transit point for pipelines that pump Russian natural gas to customers in western Europe.
Russia last year threatened to cut gas supplies to Belarus over a pricing and bill payment dispute, raising concerns about supply disruption further down the line in Europe.
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