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8 January 2010
Belarusian Visa Price Has Risen to EUR 180 if Issued at the Airport

The main aim of a visa regime is to regulate migration flow and to prevent eventual illegal immigrants from entering the country. What kind of illegal immigrants could come to Belarus from the EU or the USA?

5 January 2010
Belarus Officials Fly to Russia for Oil Talks

The Belarusian-Russian oil conflict once again demonstrates the fact that relations between both countries are far from what could have been called friendly. All the declarations of “eternal Slavic brotherhood” vanish once real money gets involved.

5 January 2010
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Russian-Belarusian Druzhba

https://belarusdigest.com/story/russian-belarusian-druzhba/

4 January 2010
Financial Times: Russia Stops Delivery of Oil to Belarus

30 December 2009
2000s for Democracy in Belarus: a Decade of Disappointment

An article by one of this website’s authors for the on-line magazine Novaja Europa:

29 December 2009
Internet Censorship in the Authoritarian Belarus

To be precise, the Belarusian officials have not yet approved the introduction of additional measures to regulate Internet in Belarus. However, Belarusian independent media have published a realistic draft of the document and the document has been discussed by the government.

29 December 2009
Belarus’ Efforts to Reduce CO2 Footprint Found Little Support

The international community showed little interest in the Belarus-initiated amendment to the Kyoto Protocol at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

28 December 2009
Naša Niva: Belarusian Economists from Western Universities Plan to Launch a Masters Programme in Belarus
Naša Niva: Belarusian Economists from Western Universities Plan to Launch a Masters Programme in Belarus

An interview with Michail Holasaŭ (Mikhail Golosov), a Belarus-born economics professor at Yale University. The initiative of these people is really worth admiration. It is very important for the Belarusian government to really seize this opportunity and to help economists from the Belarusian diaspora to realize their project. Having Europe's probably most backward and least reformed economy, where real market reforms might only have started a year ago or so, Belarus desperately needs the experience and knowledge of people like Michail Holasaŭ or Aleh Cyvinski (Tsyvinski). One should consider the example of Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president and successful reformer, who invited young Georgian-born economists from the West to advise on economic reforms and even take key positions in the country's government. Economists with a global reputation have come to a conference in Minsk on December 28-29. They are united by Belarusian origin. And the desire to do something for Belarus. Naša Niva has talked to Mikhail Golosov, a professor of economics at Yale University (USA).

27 December 2009
Companies from Nottingham to erect a residential complex near Minsk
Companies from Nottingham to erect a residential complex near Minsk

An interesting example of Belarusian-British cooperation. Minsk authorities largely develop the city via construction of Socialist-styled flat-blocks. Surrounding villages that get incorporated into the city are gradually being destroyed and replaced with the same depressive flat blocks. It would be good if they would find some replacement for Soviet architecture. The story appeared on www.thisisnottingham.co.uk:  

25 December 2009
Santa Claus Beaten up by Belarus Police

One Santa, 14 Snow Maidens, and 5 New Year’s Bunnies marched in downtown Minsk Dec. 22 protesting restrictions on the public activities of unregistered organizations. The group hoped to register a petition to the Parliament asking to abolish Article 193.1 of Belarus’ Criminal Code. The petition had to be left in the Parliament’s mailbox instead.

24 December 2009
Belarus Looking for Oil in Latin America

The Venezuelan oil and energy minister announced a new Belarus-Venezuela oil project the Orinoco River Basin.

23 December 2009
RFE/RL: Vera Rich, a British Translator from Belarusian, Dies at 73
RFE/RL: Vera Rich, a British Translator from Belarusian, Dies at 73

Belarus is a lonely country and Belarusian is a lonely language ignored by its own state and by most Belarusians, who almost exclusively use Russian in their everyday life. The death of Vera Rich is a big loss for Belarus although most Belarusians will hardly even hear of it. And it is God's big gift to us that there were and there are foreign friends of Belarus like her. Vera Rich has also been known as a translator of Ukrainian literature to English.

20 December 2009
EU Sanctions: the Longer the More Surreal

Members of the European Parliament agreed to prolong sanctions against Belarus while at the same time postponing their application. A resolution adopted Dec. 17 delays the imposition of travel restrictions on top Belarusian officials until Oct. 2010.

17 December 2009
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More Money from the IMF: Prudent Credit Policy with the World’s Worst Tax System

The International Monetary Fund completed its review of Belarus’s economic policies and approved another financial aid package to Belarus. This time it amounts to US$688 Million. The IMF noticed some improvements in the legal and institutional frameworks for privatization and in easing administrative controls. The IMF praised and encouraged Belarus' prudent credit policy and reduction of public deficit.