BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

29/11/2006

Journalists' walkout mars meeting

A summit of ex-Soviet leaders was marred on Tuesday when Russian reporters travelling with the Kremlin walked out in protest at heavy-handed behaviour by the Belarussian hosts.

The walkout was an embarrassment for the Russia-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) grouping that many critics say is a toothless talking shop, and once again exposed contradictions between member states.

The journalists' walkout was sparked when security officials at the venue, Minsk's National Library, refused admission to three Russian newspaper journalists accredited to the event.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's spokesman Pavel Legky said the expulsion was because "These media outlets have published reports containing abuses against our leader and our country."

Most Russian journalists walked out of the press room in protest. Sources in the Russian delegation said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the incident.

"We think this is absolutely impermissible and we disagree with this," Putin's spokesman Alexei Gromov said.

Lukashenko is described by Washington as "Europe's last dictator". Many of his political opponents are in prison and independent journalists are routinely subject to harassment.

Analysts say the CIS grouping's future is in doubt after Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova in the past three years began pulling out of Moscow's orbit and seeking membership of Western institutions like NATO and the European Union.

Georgia, which is considering whether to pull out of the CIS, has sent the speaker of its parliament to the NATO summit taking place on Tuesday in nearby Latvia.

Russia has used its trade weapons to punish the rebels. It has forced Ukraine to swallow a sharp increase in the price of its gas and is now threatening Georgia with an even higher rise.

Russia has banned import of Moldovan meat and wine and imposed economic sanctions on Georgia, severing transport links, banning imports of its wine and mineral water and cracking down on Georgians working in Russia.

Putin has rejected a request from Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to meet one-on-one in Minsk to sort out the row. However, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev said the two have exchanged opinions during the meeting of CIS leaders.

"I think it was useful and calm on both sides, and it improved hopes these relations will get better, given goodwill on both sides," he told the final news conference.

Ironically, Moscow's new policy of using trade and economic weapons to keep CIS allies under control has also affected some of Moscow's closest allies including Belarus.

Russia's giant Gazprom told Minsk to cede its gas pipeline network or prepare for a sharp rise in gas prices next year. Enraged Lukashenko has urged Ukraine to co-operate in resisting Moscow's energy domination in the region.

A source in Lukashenko's staff told Reuters that "joint projects in transit and processing energy resources" was discussed at a separate meeting between the Belarus leader, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and the head of energy-rich Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on Tuesday in Minsk.

In a clear move to add carrot to stick, Putin agreed at the meeting with the Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin to lift the ban on imports of Moldovan wine and meat, Russian media said.

Source:

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/905073