BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/06/2009

Belarus Leader Snubs Moscow Security Pact Summit

MINSK (Reuters) -- Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka will not attend a former Soviet security pact summit in Moscow on June 14 in protest at Russia's ban on imports of its dairy products, Belarus's Foreign Ministry said.

Ties between former Soviet allies Russia and Belarus have been strained, with Moscow angered by Belarus's refusal to recognize Georgia's pro-Russian breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

Earlier this month, Russia banned imports of 1,200 types of milk products from Belarus, which earns billions of dollars from its dairy exports and last year had about 4 percent of the Russian market.

"At this moment, we witness an open economic discrimination by one of the members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation [CSTO] against Belarus in a very important segment of products," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Objectively, such actions undermine economic security, which is a fundamental basis for stability ... In the current situation, Belarus ... is forced to cancel its participation in the [CSTO] meeting in Moscow on June 14."

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/content/Belarus_Leader_Snubs_Moscow_Security_Pact_Summit/1753779.html

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