The latest: Belarus’ Lukashenko Sworn in for Third Term to Accompaniment of Western Criticism

08.04.2006
Belarus’ Lukashenko Sworn in for Third Term to Accompaniment of Western Criticism
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for a third term Saturday following his re-election denounced by the West as undemocratic and fraudulent.

08.04.2006
3 Killed in Yekaterinburg Dormitory Fire
Three people have been killed in a major dormitory fire in Russia’s Urals city of Yekaterinburg. Three were injured, emergency officials said.

08.04.2006
Russia Ready to Do Its Best for Iraq Stabilization — Foreign Ministry
Russia is ready to do everything necessary to stabilize the situation in Iraq, the Russian Foreign Ministry’ s spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in statement concerning a Friday mosque bombing in Baghdad. The deadliest terrorist attack this year, it took lives of at least 79 people and left more than 160 wounded.

08.04.2006
Russian Academics Argue About Removing Lenin Body From Red Square
A history institute under Russia’s Academy of Sciences has proposed removing the mausoleum containing the corpse of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin from Moscow’s Red Square, but the head of the Academy has come out firmly against such a move.

08.04.2006
Ukraine’s Choice is EU, Not Russia — Foreign Minister
As Ukraine has chosen “the road of democratic development”, attempts to force the country to make a choice between the EU and Russia are provocative, the Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk said.

08.04.2006
Communist Rally Banned in Moscow
Up to 3,000 policemen have been patrolling downtown Moscow in order to stop Communists from holding a protest rally near Kremlin. Although the city authorities refused to issue a permission for the anti-governmental action, about 5,000 people with red flags came to city center.

08.04.2006
Georgia’s Saakashvili Ready for Dialogue With Breakaway Abkhazia
Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili has said he is ready to start diplomatic settlement of long-term conflict with the breakaway republic of Abkhazia that has been long striving for independence. According to recent rumors, Tbilisi was going to send troops to the province to fight its independence ambitions that makes the President’s new statement surprising.

08.04.2006
“Last Dictator in Europe” to Be Sworn for Third Term in Belarus
President Alexander Lukashenko, accused in the West of systematically crushing human rights, takes the oath of office on Saturday to start a third term in office in ex-Soviet Belarus.