BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Mon Nov 28, 2005

West gives little help on terror - Belarus KGB chief

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus, its leaders criticised by Washington and the European Union, is not getting enough Western help to curb the movement into the EU of migrants who could pose a terrorist threat, the head of its the security service said.

Stepan Sukhorenko, head of the body still known by its Soviet-era acronym KGB, said the number of illegal migrants had more than doubled since three of Belarus's neighbours -- Poland, Latvia and Lithuania -- joined the European Union last year.

"It must be said that the level of interaction between Belarus and foreign intelligence services and security forces is largely determined by the political situation," Sukhorenko told Reuters in a rare interview late last week.

"It therefore cannot be said that Belarus is getting sufficient or appropriate help for its efforts."

Keeping watch on the movements of migrants is a key element in the U.S.-led war on terror launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks on targets in the United States.

States bordering the newly-expanded 25-nation European Union have been urged to step up measures to control such movements.

But the EU and the United States regularly shun Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and accuse him of targeting dissents, closing down media outlets and falsifying elections.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, is seeking re-election next year after winning a referendum on constitutional change the West says was rigged. Parliament is considering laws imposing tough sentences on anyone accused of fomenting protests like those which helped unseat governments in Georgia and Ukraine.

ROUTES TO WESTERN EUROPE

Sukhorenko said the West should recognise Belarus's position at the heart of routes to the West through central Europe.

"There are migrants from regions with heightened terrorist activity. Many illegal migrants are influenced by international criminal or terrorist organisations and pose a real threat to the stability not only of Belarus but Western Europe," he said.

"In Belarussian we have a word 'toloka'. It means the entire world extending help to someone to solve a difficult problem. That's the way it should be with this."

Sukhorenko said the flow of migrants had increased to an annual rate of 100,000 from 30,000-50,000 prior to EU expansion.

The KGB, he said, had recently detained 54 groups made up of 755 people. Among them were 20 individuals "suspected of links to international extremists and terrorist organisations".

Despite its internal stability, Belarus could not rule out the use of its territory as a transit point for terrorists.

"Belarus is playing a sort of buffer role in the network of illegal migration to the countries of western Europe," he said.

"We have a stable internal situation. But owing to a series of factors our country cannot be totally free of global negative factors linked to the escalation of world terrorism.

"The main thing is early detection and removal of all pre-conditions for terrorism. We constantly work towards this."

Source:

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-11-28T212409Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-225351-1.xml&archived=False