BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
21/03/2008
Russia's PM criticizes U.S. economic sanctions against Belarus
MINSK, Belarus (AP) - The Russian prime minister criticized the United States on Friday for slapping Belarus with economic sanctions.
Viktor Zubkov, on a visit to the Belarusian capital, denounced the U.S. sanctions against Belarus as politically motivated and defying international law. Belarus, like Russia, is a former Soviet state, and the two countries are allies.
The long-strained relations between the United States and Belarus have deteriorated this month.
The U.S. imposed sanctions against a state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company, Belneftekhim, over Belarusian authorities' crackdown on dissent. In the ensuing flap, both countries recalled their ambassadors this month.
U.S. officials have called President Alexander Lukashenko "Europe's last dictator" for his authoritarian rule and intolerance of dissent. The U.S. said the Belarusian government must release all inmates the United States considers political prisoners if it wants to see sanctions lifted.
Zubkov urged Washington to end the sanctions.
"Russia considers this move politicized," he said after talks with Lukashenko. "Such U.S. actions are at odds with international legal context. We are calling on Washington to revise its policy on Belarus.
Russia and Belarus, a nation of 10 million people, signed an agreement in 1996 that envisaged close political, economic and military ties. But efforts to achieve a full merger have foundered.
Lukashenko has repeatedly criticized the Kremlin for what he described as economic pressure aimed at forcing his government to surrender control over a key natural gas pipeline carrying Russian gas to the West and other prized economic assets.
Source:
http://www.pr-inside.com/russia-s-pm-criticizes-u-s-economic-sanctions-r497842.htm
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