BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/05/2006

Belarus to ban US, Canadian flights: spokesman

REUTERS

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - Ex-Soviet Belarus, its leaders subject to a visa ban in the West, is to bar flights over its territory by U.S. and Canadian aircraft, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

The move, suggested by President Alexander Lukashenko this week, was in response to a refusal by both countries to allow an aircraft carrying Belarus's prime minister to refuel last month on its way to and from Cuba.

"Belarus strictly observes symmetry in adopting any sort of retaliatory measures," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Popov told a news conference. "These restrictions will apply only to two countries -- the United States and Canada."

The West has intensified its criticism in recent months of Lukashenko, singling out his landslide re-election in March as blatantly rigged.

Vice President Dick Cheney this month repeated Washington's accusations that Lukashenko led the "last dictatorship in Europe."

The United States and European Union barred entry to Lukashenko and other officials after the election, which sparked unprecedented opposition protests.

More than 600 demonstrators were jailed for up to 15 days and opposition leaders were handed similar sentences after subsequent protests.

Popov said Belarus was still to make a final decision on whether to ban all U.S. and Canadian aircraft or only those carrying official delegations.

Belarus annually receives about $200,000 from the United States and Canada for the use of its airspace.

Popov also said Belarus was preparing a legal challenge to international courts to contest the visa sanctions.

"Restrictive measures introduced against Belarus violate the spirit and letter of international agreements ... agreements on freedom of movement" he said.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, is accused of silencing the media, hounding his opponents, harassing independent cultural forums and clinging to Soviet-style economics.

Source:

http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=150674