Belarus in 2007

Belarus in 2008

Area: 207,595 sq km (80,153 sq mi)
Population (2007 est.): 9,692,000
Capital: Minsk
Head of state and government: President Alyaksandr H. Lukashenka, assisted by Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski

The year 2007 began in Belarus with a fractious dispute with Russia over natural gas prices. Belarus agreed to pay Gazprom $100 per 1,000 cu m for imported Russian gas, more than double the 2006 rate. Moreover, it was agreed that the price would rise each year to reach the European rate (at that time about $265) by 2011. On January 12, after a three-day closure of the Druzhba pipeline, Minsk and Moscow also signed an agreement on oil transit. The tax Belarus was paying on oil imported from Russia was reduced from $180 to $53 per ton, though it was to pay an additional tariff on exports of products from Belarusian enterprises that were produced from imported Russian oil.

Despite the energy problems, economic performance was not affected. Over the first nine months of the year, GDP rose by 8.4% compared with the same period the previous year, maintaining pace with an official estimate of 8–9%. Industrial output rose by 8.2% and consumer goods by 7.3%. The national birth rate also reportedly increased by 8.8%, while the mortality rate dropped by 4.2% compared with 2006—the first such positive indicator in 12 years.

At the meeting of the Second Congress of Democratic Forces, which was held on May 26–27 at the Minsk Automotive Factory’s Palace of Culture, a system of cochairs was instituted to replace the sole leadership of Alyaksandr Milinkevich. In anticipation of an economic crisis, the group also launched a “national round-table” campaign that would undertake discussions with the government. The congress approved a 44-member Political Council and concluded with the election of four cochairs (Anatol Lyabedzka, Syarhey Kalyakin, Vintsuk Vyachorka, and Anatol Lyaukovich), who represented the main opposition political parties. A proposed fifth chair was designated for Milinkevich, but he opted to lead a Movement for Freedom that would focus on street protests.

Such protests continued throughout the year, though the number of participants remained small. At commemorations on March 25 of the 89th anniversary of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, antigovernment demonstrators turned out in force. The government attempted to divert attention from the event by offering alternative activities—a Russian ballet and a concert. The anniversary of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was commemorated after Milinkevich visited the affected zones in late April, and on October 14 a large pro-EU rally with about 7,000 participants took place; most of the opposition groups cooperated. The authorities permitted the event, but numerous activists were arrested beforehand on various pretexts (the most common were for “petty hooliganism” and “swearing in public”).

The government of Pres. Alyaksandr H. Lukashenka did not relax its authoritarian hold. In May, Human Rights Watch issued a report that noted the wide gap between pledges made by the Belarusian government and the actual situation in the country. As a result of this and other reports, Belarus’s bid for membership in the UN Human Rights Council was denied. On July 17 Lukashenka dismissed KGB chief Stsyapan Sukharenka, replacing him with Yury Zhadobin. The appointment followed a spy scandal in which four Belarusians and a Russian were arrested, allegedly for working with Polish intelligence forces, although it was unclear whether the two events were related.

by: David R. Marples