BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/03/2006

Belarusian Newspapers Suspend Publication

March 14, 2006 -- Three independent Belarusian newspapers have suspended publication after a printing house in Russia said it could no longer print them.

The newspapers -- "Narodnaya volya," "BDG Delovaya gazeta," and "Tovarishch" -- have been using a printing house in the Russian city of Smolensk after state printing houses in Belarus refused to print them.

Anatoly Guchev, the head of the Smolensk printing plant, said printing contracts with the newspapers were cancelled on March 13 because of economic and political reasons.

"Narodnaya volya" Deputy Editor Svyatlana Kalinkina has accused Belarusian authorities of striking a deal with Russian authorities to pressure the printing house.

Opposition groups have accused Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of cracking down on the independent media on the eve of the country's March 19 election, in which Lukashenka is running for a third term.

(Belapan, Reuters)

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/03/839f05af-9a22-4354-b2f5-98b8c4f7c745.html