MORE DAMAGE CONTROL IN BELARUS.

Former Belarusian foreign minister Petr Krauchenka, now a member of parliament, stated yesterday that there were no legal grounds for Belarus to remain a nuclear state. Commenting on Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko’s recent suggestion that Belarus might keep its remaining Soviet nuclear arms and seek the return of those already withdrawn to Russia, Krauchenka said, "world opinion simply will not allow us to do so." (12) Lukashenko told an audience in Moscow January 18 that Belarus was ready to redeploy strategic weapons to defend Russian interests in the face of NATO’s eastward expansion and expressed bewilderment that Moscow was not yet thinking along similar lines. (13) Belarusian foreign minister Uladzimir Syanka later called the statements "hypothetical." In addition to Krauchenka, other members of parliament have also indicated that Lukashenko recklessly injured his country’s image with his remarks in Moscow.

Russia Backtracks on Abkhazia Sanctions.