BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/03/2007

Belarusian journalist appeals to Russian authorities to check on report of danger from Belarus' secret agencies

Journalist Pavel Sharamet and other Belarusians living in Russia have appealed to the Federal Security Service (FSB) to check on a report that a danger is threatening them from Belarus' secret agencies, Belarusskie Novosti online edition reported earlier this week.

According to the report, Mr. Lukashenka has recently ordered law-enforcement and security chiefs to take measures to "neutralize" a list of some 15 opponents, including those living in Russia, whom he blamed for a deterioration in relations with the Kremlin. Mr. Sharamet told BelaPAN that he had received the information from sources close to the Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB).

On Thursday, Mr. Sharamet and other Belarusians met with FSB officers and representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office to ask them to probe whether the treat was true or the report was simply a provocation. They were reportedly promised that measures would be taken in respect of their appeal.

"I am long accustomed to threats and take them quite calmly because I am well aware that not all of them are true," Mr. Sharamet said. "This may be a provocation or simply psychological pressure. But this time we received information from sources that we have a fairly high confidence in."

Ella Pamfilova, head of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Human Rights Council, has appealed to the Belarusian Presidential Administration to check on the report. When reached by BelaPAN, KGB spokesman Valery Nadtachayew dismissed the report as fantasy. "When they feel bored, they start inventing threats or publish letters from obscure KGB officers. It is not serious," he said.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1254