BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

11/04/2006

EU Visa Ban on Belarussian Officials "A Mistake": Russian Lawmakers

Political and economic isolation of Belarus would be "a mistake," Russian lawmakers said on Monday, criticizing the European Union (EU) sanctions imposed on a number of high-ranking Belarussian officials.

"I fully agree with the opinion of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the isolation of Belarus and introduction of sanctions against its leadership would be a mistake," said Vadim Gustov, chairman of the Upper House of Parliament for Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

"The European Union's decision on Belarus is an instance of double standards," Gustov told Russian media.

"For some reason the EU did not show too much interest in the Afghan or German elections, where voting by mail and on line was possible. Europe is preoccupied exclusively by Belarus, which has opted for its non-pro-Western and non-pro-American way. This irritates them very much," Gustov was quoted as saying.

The EU on Monday slapped a visa ban on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and 30 other officials for what it deemed as violating international electoral standards and international human rights law.

The deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Upper House, Vasily Likhachev, also told media that the isolation measure "can attain only non-constructive results."

Valery Fyodorov, chairman of the Constitutional Legislation of Parliament, said "it is against the law to ban entry to the EU for the leadership of an independent state that is a UN member."

Lukashenko was re-elected Belarussian president with nearly 83 percent of the vote in the March 19 election. He was sworn in on Saturday for a third term in office.

The European Union and the United States branded the poll as rigged, and the EU has called for travel bans on Belarussian officials, a freeze on their assets and restrictive measures against companies directly linked to senior Belarussian officials.

Minsk dismissed those sanctions as "deliberate, unsubstantiated and useless."

"Our position as regards the restrictions imposed by the European Union remains unchanged -- these sanctions are unsubstantiated, deliberate and useless," Belarussian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Popov said, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency.

Popov renewed the call for the EU to stop hindering the normal development of the relations between the two sides.

Apart from President Alexander Lukashenko, senior officials on the EU blacklist include the State Security Committee chief, Stepan Sukhorenko, Justice Minister Viktor Golovanov and Prosecutor General Pyotr Miklashevich.

Source:

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/706/2006/04/11/198@75748.htm