BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

29/04/2008

Lukashenko Addresses the Parliament

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has criticized the Belarusian opposition, accusing it of ties with foreign states. "It is absurd when civil society lives on the handouts of a foreign uncle," Lukashenko said in his annual address to the parliament. Civil society, he said, should "grow in its own soil, with foreign agronomists or fertilizer." The Belarusian president said that the country's opposition receives financial aid from the West.

Lukashenko also accused the opposition of insisting that the West impose sanctions on Belarus. "Opposition activists lose sleep when someone in the West says something positive about Belarus: They do not act in the interests of the country and its citizens," he said, adding "They try to make regular hooligans into heroes, and even think up a name for them - political prisoners."

One of the conditions for improving relations with the United States and European Union is the freeing of political prisoners, although Minsk denies that they exist. This winter, several opponents of the Belarusian government were freed from prison. Former presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin, who was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for organizing a riot, remains in prison. Lukashenko stated earlier that it was suggested to Kozulin that he emigrate. "We freed five and the sixth refused," Lukashenko told the parliament.

"We ensure order and stability in the country, whether the West likes it or not," Lukashenko concluded. Belarus is now in a diplomatic conflict with the U.S. over sanctions Washington imposed on the state Belneftekhim company and its affiliates.

Source:

http://www.kommersant.com/p-12432/annual_address_to_parliament/

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