Word: lukashenko
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Following last year's war in Georgia, Belarus felt pressure from Russia to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia but knew that doing so, when no country in the West recognizes either as independent, would push Belarus into international isolation. Instead, Lukashenko satisfied U.S. demands to release a large group of political prisoners, including former presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin. Last month, Russia canceled its last $500 million installment of a $2 billion IMF loan to Belarus as punishment for not recognizing the breakaway republics, Lukashenko claimed. "It's no coincidence that Lukashenko released key political prisoners within days of the August...
...Lukashenko has been able to manipulate the tensions between Russia and the West in his favor. Belarus is the only country that has successfully asked for and received loans from both Russia and the IMF, and Russia is still Belarus' major trading partner. But Lukashenko may not be able to keep up this balancing act for long. "If he wants to survive with Russia angry at his border, then Lukashenko needs to do some more thorough [political reforms] then he is willing to admit," says Vitali Silitski, director of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, pointing out that Belarus...
...Over the past year, Lukashenko has been increasingly turning his back on Russia, slowly allying his country with the West. So far, the move seems to be paying off. Belarus was included in the E.U.'s Eastern Partnership initiative, created last year to strengthen economic and political ties between Europe and six former Soviet states. Lukashenko's travel ban to Europe - issued after his 2006 re-election, which the U.S. and the E.U. maintain was rigged - has been lifted. And Belarus secured an additional $1 billion on a $2.4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after Russia canceled...
...Lukashenko's refusal to attend a key security summit in Moscow on Monday because of the dairy ban has infuriated the Kremlin, and despite Belarus' achievements with the E.U., the price for angering Russian President Dmitri Medvedev may just be too high. "Exporting food to Russia has been one of [Belarus'] most important and reliable trade sectors," Andrew Wilson, a senior policy fellow at the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations, tells TIME. "The ban will definitely sting." In 2008, Russia bought 93% of Belarus' meat and dairy products, earning Belarus $1 billion...
...Those instincts told Lukashenko to skip the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) meeting on Sunday in protest over Russia's dairy-imports ban. The organization - which has been dubbed Russia's answer to NATO - consists of Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and, supposedly, Belarus and was formed to tackle drug-trafficking from Afghanistan, as well as international terrorism. "Economy serves as the basis for our common security," Lukashenko said in a statement. "But if Belarus' closest CSTO ally is trying ... to destroy this basis ... how can one talk about consolidating collective security in the CSTO space...