Tag: Belarus

Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, yesterday (9 January) discussed the strategic vision and mandate of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), a new initiative to foster democracy in the EU’s neighbourhood, and appointed a Polish diplomat as its executive director.

In the lead-up to the creation of a Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), foreseen for 2015, the Customs Union (CU) and the Common Economic Space (CES) between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan represent two elements of the most ambitious regional integration projects launched in the post-Soviet space since 1991, write Steven Blockmans, Hrant Kostanyan and Ievgen Vorobiov.

Belarus is a laboratory of oppression and dictatorship on European territory, says MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, who nominated Belarussian opposition activist Ales Bialiatski for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize.

Michael Kambeck argues that Azerbaijan should face EU sanctions over its decision to pardon a soldier convicted of killing an Armenian counterpart during a NATO-sponsored training exercise.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's appointment of Sergei Makey as foreign minister represents a hardline stance concerning the Europeans and will likely worsen relations between Minsk and Brussels, says Stratfor.

Tensions between Belarus and the European Union are not new and follow a trend of increasing Belarussian alienation from the West. Although the dispute between Belarus and Sweden is the first these countries have had at such a high level, tensions are unlikely to grow since the West does not want to further isolate Belarus, argues Stratfor.

If the EU plays its cards badly, a "Belarus scenario" in which Russia would regain influence over the former Soviet Republic is possible in Ukraine, Darius Semaška, a chief government advisor for Lithuania, told journalists yesterday (10 July). EurActiv reports from Vilnius.

Negotiations between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are advancing over the creation of a Eurasian Union, which would abolish customs duties and unify economic policies amongst participating countries.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin made it clear that his country cannot advance negotiations on a new basic treaty with the EU, unless Brussels formalises relations with the so-called "Common Economic Space" - its Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said yesterday (5 April) that he will "screen" EU ambassadors individually before allowing them to return the country, the AFP reported. They had withdrawn from the country to punish Minsk's human rights record.

Belarus has withdrawn today (30 September) from the EU's 'Eastern Partnership' initiative, aimed at developing closer relations with the countries of Europe's east, denouncing "unprecedented discrimination" and a "substitution" of the principles on which it was built two years ago.

Belarus's economy is so fragile that it is dependent on Russia and the IMF for its stability, argues Mitchell Orenstein. He says the West should not allow IMF money to prolong the regime's misrule.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is attempting to spread fear across the opposition movement by accusing it of the 11 April bomb attack in Minsk, says dissident figure and Sakharov Prize laureate Alexander Milinkevich. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv Poland, Milinkevich urges the EU to ensure that its aid to the country reaches pro-democracy activists on the ground.

The European Commission today (13 May) condemned the sentencing in Belarus of politicians and activists for participating in antigovernment protests late last year.

The European Union is not instigating revolution in the Arab world, nor is it trying to impose its values. But once people in Tunisia, Egypt and other counties have embarked on the road to reform, the EU will not allow these revolutions to be stolen, Enlargement and neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Štefan Füle told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Russia will not restart oil supplies to Belarus, halted due to a pricing row, until at least 20 January, when the heads of both governments are scheduled to meet, official sources announced today (18 January).

Press freedom groups yesterday (4 January) urged Belarus to release dozens of journalists who they said were still in custody following a violent crackdown on opposition demonstrators in the wake of a presidential election last month.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko won a fourth term today (20 December) after a landslide election marred by a violent police crackdown on demonstrators and opposition challengers. The moves were condemned by the EU.

The upcoming presidential election in Belarus presents the EU with a new chance to step up to the challenge of confronting Belarus, writes Pavol Demes, director for Central and Eastern Europe at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, in an exclusive commentary for EurActiv.

Ukraine can transit more gas through its territory to the EU to compensate for the reduced gas flow across Belarus, which resulted from the latter's payment conflict with Russian monopolist Gazprom, Kiev announced yesterday (23 June).

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the gas monopoly Gazprom to cut gas supplies to Belarus, the Kremlin's press office said today (21 June), in a move which it is feared may affect supplies to Europe.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus may be on the brink of creating a supranational body modelled on European integration, but this could be a difficult task given the problems that their customs union has faced so far, writes George Bovt, a journalist and political observer, in a March publication for the EU-Russia Centre.

Human rights activists in Belarus said on 25 March that two convicts were executed last week. The news triggered protests from European parliamentarians.

The European Union should make careful use of "carrots" with the authoritarian regime in Belarus in its attempts to boost democracy, the country's opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.