Word: belarus
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...truth about the frigid feelings between Moscow to Kiev lies beneath: retaliation for last year’s Orange Revolution, which was built on the premise to take the country away from the Kremlin’s spheres of influence. Former Soviet republic Belarus, on the other hand, has an authoritarian government keen on close relationships with Moscow and still enjoys cheap energy. Thus, gas from murky companies like Gazprom flows with political scents—and according to Putin’s desires...
...most successful private oil producer. It has curtailed political freedoms, among them the ability of philanthropic and nongovernmental organizations to operate in Russia. And in the last days of December, Russian officials were playing hardball with Ukraine over natural gas prices, even as they were finalizing a deal with Belarus to take control of the pipeline that crosses its territory into Western Europe. The tough negotiations with Ukraine are widely seen as an attempt to weaken the party of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in advance of March's parliamentary elections. In an echo of Soviet-era threats, on Russian television...
Nikolai Statkevich tried to buck the system in 2001: he ran for President of Belarus. The country calls itself democratic, but President Alexander Lukashenko, in power for 11 years, runs it like the last dictatorship in Europe and brooks no challenges to his neo-Stalinist rule. That's why Statkevich, 49, leader of the opposition Social Democratic party, found himself confined to a prison barrack in the town of Baranovichi, 120 km west of Minsk, the nation's capital. Last March, the government sentenced him to three years of forced labor for "resisting the authorities and obstructing traffic" during...
...When the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, most people of Belarus were taken aback by their sudden freedom, and shocked by an onslaught of corruption. In 1994, they elected Lukashenko, 51, a former state farm boss, popularly known as the Batska (which means both father and leader). The charismatic member of parliament with a bushy mustache and a talent for fiery oratory built his presidential campaign on a pledge to stamp out corruption, rein in the high-handed bureaucracy and restore ties with Russia. Many voters hoped that such an alliance would ease the burden of cleaning up after...
...election campaign kicks off. "Of course you'll elect me," the Batska declared earlier this month. "What else can you do?" Western nations have criticized Lukashenko's regime, but have done little else. Last April, while attending a nato meeting in Lithuania, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Belarus "the last remaining true dictatorship in the heart of Europe," and said "it is time for change to come." Lukashenko and other officials have been barred from traveling to the U.S. and Europe, and last month, the European Union threatened Belarus with sanctions for suppressing freedom of speech. Still, Belarus...