Belarus - главные новости

Given Minsk's poor record on media and other rights, a complaints hotline for journalists should be created when Belarus hosts the 2019 European Games, two rights groups have urged.Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the call on May 3, coinciding with World Press Freedom Day."Belarusian authorities have a long and sorry history of contempt for media freedom, so it's likely they may harass independent journalists in the lead-up and during the European Games," said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Huma...

Clean Russian crude in the Druzhba pipeline reached Belarus at 1240 on 2 May, reports the press office of Belarusian petrochemical monopoly Belnaftakhim. The chlorides-contaminated oil had been pumped out from the pipe into reservoirs.The quality of the arriving oil was checked by representatives of Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft and the Belarusian Druzhba operator Gomeltransneft Druzhba. At 1428, clean oil began to flow towards Mazyr in southern Belarus. Belarus had assumed earlier that the refinery in Mazyr would receive clean crude not earlier than by 4 May.Oil contaminated with chlorides at the level 30 times more than normal was detected in the Druzhba pipeline on the territory of Belarus on 19 April. The chlorid...

Belarusians owe banks almost BYN12 billion (over $6 billion) under consumption loans, loans for housing and cars, installment plan cards, reports TUT.by quoting the statistical data from the National Bank as of 1 April.The population’s debt to banks amounted to BYN11 billion in November 2018. In June last year, the figure was BYN10 billion.Demand for consumption loans remains high despite some measures that the authorities undertook to limit the possibilities for new loans.Earlier this year, the National Bank issued new recommendations for the assessment of the creditworthiness of clients. For example, banks now have access to the Unified Payments History Service to check how potential lenders pay their utility bills a...

Dmitry Mezentsev has been appointed as Russian Ambassador to Belarus, according to the edict signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin wrote in a statement on its official website.Mr Putin also signed another edict dismissing Mikhail Babich from the duties of Russian ambassador in Belarus and the special representative of the Russian president on the development of trade and economic cooperation with Belarus. Mezentsev was not appointed for the position of the special representative.Babich served in Belarus only for eight months. Russian media suggested that Belarus President Lukashenka had personally asked Putin to replace the ambassador.

On Monday, 29 April, law enforcement agencies detained Andrei Vtyurin, the Deputy State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus and the former head of the security service of Alexander Lukashenko. In another development, Sergey Sivodedov, CEO of the national telecommunications company *Beltelecom was also detained.A criminal case was opened against Andrei Vtyurin, his cottage in Drozdy (Minsk micro district where many top state officials live) is sealed. He was reportedly charged with bribery.According to TUT.BY anonymous sources, Sergey Sivodedov was detained on corruption charges too. The press service of the KGB declined to comment on the detention of Vtyurin or Sicodedov. Inter...

The problem of crude oil flowing via Belarus through the Druzhba pipeline is of purely technical nature and should not be politicized, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told journlaists in a statement, reports TASS.Mr Kozak said that on 26 April officials from Russia, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine will gather for a four-party meeting in Minsk to find a solution about removing the contaminated oil from the Druzhba pipeline.The Russian official promised that the companies responsible for the contamination of oil as well as their managers would face punishment, including financial responsibility. Mr Kozak explained that four mining companies operate at the point where oil...

Foreigners with tickets to Slavianski Bazaar will be able to enter Belarus visa-free.Entrance without a visa will work from 1 to 20 July.“The decision was made by the head of state a couple of days ago”, director of the International Festival of Arts Gleb Lapitsky told journalists. Guests of the festival will need a ticket and a passport to cross the border.Visa-free entry is proof that Slavianski Bazaar is a cultural brand of Belarus, the representative of the festival added.

Activists of the Mothers 328 movement have gathered near the House of the Government in Minsk, hoping to learn the exact date of the discussion on the amendments meant to soften the punishment under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus that deals with drug-trafficking. The activists say they have received information that proposed changes were filed with the House of Representatives earlier in the morning.“The draft is already at the House of Representatives and does not need any additional adjustment,” Mothers 328 activist Tatstsyana Kanetskaya told Euroradio. The amendments to Article 328 of the Criminal Code of B...

Three citizens of Russia equipped an illegal drug laboratory near Minsk and focused on the production of psychotropic substances (alpha-PVP and alpha-PHP).The location of the laboratory was established due to the joint actions by the Belarusian Border Service, the KGB and Russia’s FSB; three suspects being detained.

Belarusian state petrochemical monopoly Belnaftakhim on Monday said the situation with the supplies of low-quality oil from Russia to Belarus through the Druzhba pipeline had not changed. On 29 April, a delegation led by Belnaftakhim Deputy General Manager Uladzimir Sizou is in Moscow holding talks at Russia’s Energy Ministry with top managers from Russian oil companies taking part."Engineers from the Belarusian companies maintaining the Druzhba pipeline Gomeltransneft Druzhba and Polocktransneft Druzhba have taken all necessary technical measures to be able to receive clean crude oil from the Russian export point of Unecha. Currently, the pipeline on the Belarusian territory remains full with the low-quality oil con...

Prominent Russian journalist and public figure Nikolay Svanidze said during an interview with the Moscow-based radio station Serebryanny Dozhd about the offer that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka had allegedled received from the Russian leadership. According to Mr Svanidze, he received this information ‘rather highly placed sources in Minsk.’ He said: "The ru

Reuters Belarus has moved to suspend the exports of light petroleum products to Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states following the supply of low-quality crude oil from Russia, reports the state news agency BELTA quoting Belarusian Oil Company (BNK) Deputy General Manager Siarhei Hryb.

On 14 April almost 1,000 people in Brest protested against the construction of a battery factory. During the past year similar protests took place in Astravets, Brest, and Svetlahorsk; all against environmentally-harmful enterprises threatening neighbourhoods with dangerous factory emissions.

Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko Photographer: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images President Vladimir Putin may look beyond Russia for a mechanism to keep power after his current term ends. That’s making Moscow’s closest ally nervous amid spiraling tensions over Kremlin threats to slash economic subsidies.

On 12 April, tut.by reported that Belarus has pushed for an urgent modernization of it chief refineries in Navapolatsk and Mazyr to minimize the losses from the reduction of Russian oil dotations via the ‘tax manoeuvre’. However, if Russia reduces oil dotations in 2019, catastrophic consequences should not follow for Belarus. Belarus will disagree to concede to Russia in the questions of real integration, as Moscow means it: creating common customs, unification of currencies, creating a common visa space, and deployment of Russian military bases.Alexander Lukashenka and Vladimir Putin still negotiate about compensating Belarus for Russia’s latest oil tax reform. The Russian “tax manoeuvre” foresees a decrease in export duties on...

BelToll will not collect the road toll from owners of light vehicles in Belarus from 10 June to 10 July. The easing is timed to the 2nd European Games in Minsk. The owners of the vehicles with trailers with the technical gross vehicle mass of 3.