Government Of Belarus To Resign April 8 As Presidential Poll Winner Assumes Office

"Government of Belarus to resign April 8 as presidential poll winner assumes office"

Belarus Telegraph Agency news flash April 7, 2006 17:34

http://www.belta.by/en [Official Belarusian News Agency]

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Oh... And will Lukashenka's Coronation -- following his rigged election -- be held in Minsk, or in Moscow, the capital of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, as I'm sure that Lukashenka would certainly prefer?

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..."President Vladimir Putin of Russia has also adroitly belittled Lukashenko - whose popularity in Russia is rising, according to opinion polls - by showing that subsidized energy supplies, which cost Russians from $3 billion to $7 billion a year, are behind Lukashenko's economic miracle. If Putin wants to prolong his rule by becoming the head of a newly revived Union State, a bankrupt or fully controlled Belarus without Lukashenko would [be] easier to digest.

By instituting a gas-price hike for Belarus, Russia also distances itself from its earlier support for Lukashenko's dictatorial regime, which had undermined its credentials in the Group of 8. And as evidence that it is not using energy as a weapon, Russia could even cite its application to join the World Trade Organization as the reason for the hike." ...

Evgeny Morozov "A new gas war looms, with Belarus the loser" International Herald Tribune April 7, 2006

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/07/
opinion/edmorozov.php











Oleg Kudryashov Coronation Day 1984

Image credit: (c) Oleg Kudryashov, Moscow
Courtesy Robert Brown Gallery, Washington, D.C.