Earlier this week, the United States Embassy in Minsk issued a press release on economic sanctions. Despite Belarus authorities hopes, the change of administration in the White House has not resulted in the change of its Belarus policy. Following the introduction of the US sanctions in 2007, most of the US Embassy staff had been expelled from Belarus.

Russian business daily Vedomosti reported today that the Customs Union negotiated between Moscow, Minsk, and Astana may come into effect without Belarus. The paper quoted BNP Paribas official as saying that Kiev would make a more desirable union partner for Russia than Minsk.

Sergey Yenin, a vice chairman of the LGBT Human Rights Group GayBelarus.By and co-organizer of the Slavic Pride in Minsk shares his first-hand experience. Gay Pride March took place in Minsk on May 15. After some 200 meters, it was broken up by the riot police with twelve participants arrested after scenes of reported police violence.

Belarus was mentioned in the text of the Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act signed into law by President Barack Obama last Monday, May 17. According to the Voice of America *, the U.S. State Department will be required to evaluate press freedom in countries around the world and highlight governments that condone and facilitate repression of the press.

There is one thing many commentators on Belarus fail to understand. Alyaskandr Lukashenka has no geopolitical preferences. The Belarusian president will be friends with whomever is ready to support the survival and longevity of his regime. Some want to read in his oil dealings with Venezuela a signal to Moscow. But the notion that Belarus is going to replace Russian oil with Venezuelan oil is ridiculous.

Belarus is the only European country which has not signed the Bologna Declaration on the European Space for Higher Education. It still relies on a largely unreformed Soviet model of higher education. The main goal of that model was not to encourage creativity and ability to adopt to non-standard situations but simply to accumulate knowledge.

Last week, two men were sentenced to death in Hrodna, Belarus. The previously convicted men have murdered three during an armed robbery. They have 10 days to file an appeal, which may extend their lives, if only by a short period, and probably bring them into the full glare of publicity. While their crime is severe, it is hardly uncommon. So the media attention they will get is all due to the gravity of their sentence. Belarus is the only country in Europe to practice capital punishment. Passing death sentences is what keeps the Belarusian Justice Ministry on the front pages, and the ministry excels at making headlines no less than the Belarusian leader. To maintain its nonpareil reputation, the Belarusian Justice Ministry has to annually resort to capital punishment, bravely shouldering the criticism of the international community. Unfortunately, publicity is not the only effect of Belarus’ insistence on retaining the death penalty. Capital punishment has kept Belarus out of the Council of Europe and leads to the violation of its commitments as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Belarus carries out executions in secrecy: the prisoners are informed of the execution only minutes before they are shot; prisoners’ families are not notified about the execution, given the bodies after the execution, or told where the executed were buried. Statistics on execution are also kept secret, but human rights activists estimate more than 400 have been shot since 1991. Just this March, two men were secretly executed despite the fact that their applications were still being reviewed by the UN Human Rights Committee. Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s November 2009 promise to launch an information campaign on the abolition of death penalty has not yet been fulfilled.

Newsweek has published a story where it names Andrej Sannikaŭ (Sannikov), former deputy foreign minister and head of the human rights initiative Charter'97, the potential candidate who could be backed by Russia to replace the current president Aliaksandr Lukashenka. This rather looks like a psychological PR attack from Kremlin's side:

According to GayRussia*, the city authorities have banned this weekend's Slavic Gay Pride March, using an obscure law that says public events are not allowed near underground pedestrian crossings and metro stations.

Foreign Policy has published a list of the World's Top Dissidents that includes a person from Belarus: Iryna Vidanava, founder and editor of the multimedia youth magazine 34. It is understood that 34 is the revived multimedia version version of Studenckaja Dumka, a Belarusian language youth magazine that has earlier been banned in Belarus. Mrs.

This Saturday, May 8, 2009, the EU Embassies in Washington, DC will open their doors to public as part of the Europe Week. The program of events in Washington, DC includes speeches, seminars and workshops on issues; film screenings, concerts and cultural events related to the European Union.

In his May 4 interview with the Reuters news agency, Belarusian president again tried to pose as a strong figure independent both of the West and Moscow. However, while he briefly lashed out at Russia for its ousting Kyrgyz president last month, the main target for his criticism was the West. Alyaksandr Lukashenka believes that he has given the West a lot of important favors, yet did not get enough in return. He feels “deceived.” According to him If we tomorrow would make our political system as in Ukraine, then you [Western politicians] would applaud us and praise us everywhere. We, however, do not want it, because we have seen what happened in Ukraine, and what is happening there until now. You want to send us the same way. You know, it is more than strange, I absolutely do not understand, why do you need it? Why do you need an unstable center of Europe? The interview, indeed, showed rather cynical attitude of Belarusian leadership in relations with the West – EU, USA, some international organizations and many Western countries. Adamantly refusing to undertake any significant political and social liberalization in the country and avoiding transparent economic reforms, Lukashenka is going to become acceptable for the West through providing security and stability on eastern borders of Europe, preventing Russian incursions in the former Soviet Union and making his own deals with unscrupulous Western businesspeople behind the doors closed for public.   In his May 4 interview with the Reuters news agency, Belarusian president again tried to pose as a strong figure independent both of the West and Moscow. However, while he briefly lashed out at Russia for its ousting Kyrgyz president last month, the main target for his criticism was the West. Alyaksandr Lukashenka believes that he has given the West a lot of important favors, yet did not get enough in return. He feels “deceived.” According to him If we tomorrow would make our political system as in Ukraine, then you [Western politicians] would applaud us and praise us everywhere. We, however, do not want it, because we have seen what happened in Ukraine, and what is happening there until now. You want to send us the same way. You know, it is more than strange, I absolutely do not understand, why do you need it? Why do you need an unstable center of Europe? The interview, indeed, showed rather cynical attitude of Belarusian leadership in relations with the West – EU, USA, some international organizations and many Western countries. Adamantly refusing to undertake any significant political and social liberalization in the country and avoiding transparent economic reforms, Lukashenka is going to become acceptable for the West through providing security and stability on eastern borders of Europe, preventing Russian incursions in the former Soviet Union and making his own deals with unscrupulous Western businesspeople behind the doors closed for public.

In the last months Ukraine has significantly increased its importance in the European part of the CIS. The new president Viktor Yanukovych enjoys a honeymoon with Russia: Ukrainian-Russian cooperation has started booming after previous president Viktor Yushchenko had left office. Ukraine and Russia have agreed on lower gas prices for Ukraine*, on the Russian Black Sea Fleet staying based in Ukraine till 2042.

The Council of Europe has finally sent a clear signal to Belarus by cutting contacts with the president-controlled Belarusian parliament. The local elections in Belarus one week ago have been carried out in the same undemocratic manner as every election in the country since 1994. This fact very well sums up the ineffectiveness of Europe's latest attempt to establish a dialogue with Belarus. There is no hope now that the upcoming presidential elections, to take place in early 2011, will be any more democratic. It is therefore time now for a penalization of the Belarusian government. The Belarusian regime's aim is to get the advantages of a cooperation with the West without making any steps towards democratization. The question for Western Europe is to invent which sanctions to impose, that would be felt by the Belarusian regime but would not destroy the possibility for the dialogue. Besides that, abandonment or at least moratorium on death penalty seems an easy thing for the Belarusian authorities to arrange. Unlike freedom of speech or democratic elections, the abandonment of the death penalty does not threat the position of president Lukashenka in any way. However, it is an easily achievable measure that could present a big PR potential for the Belarusian regime. Sooner or later it will be realized. Let's just wait and see. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has decided to freeze contacts with the Belarusian parliament and high-level government members, a resolution adopted on Thursday said. The Council of Europe has finally sent a clear signal to Belarus by cutting contacts with the president-controlled Belarusian parliament. The local elections in Belarus one week ago have been carried out in the same undemocratic manner as every election in the country since 1994. This fact very well sums up the ineffectiveness of Europe's latest attempt to establish a dialogue with Belarus. There is no hope now that the upcoming presidential elections, to take place in early 2011, will be any more democratic. It is therefore time now for a penalization of the Belarusian government. The Belarusian regime's aim is to get the advantages of a cooperation with the West without making any steps towards democratization. The question for Western Europe is to invent which sanctions to impose, that would be felt by the Belarusian regime but would not destroy the possibility for the dialogue. Besides that, abandonment or at least moratorium on death penalty seems an easy thing for the Belarusian authorities to arrange. Unlike freedom of speech or democratic elections, the abandonment of the death penalty does not threat the position of president Lukashenka in any way. However, it is an easily achievable measure that could present a big PR potential for the Belarusian regime. Sooner or later it will be realized. Let's just wait and see. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has decided to freeze contacts with the Belarusian parliament and high-level government members, a resolution adopted on Thursday said.