BELARUS PARLIAMENT RATIFIES TREATY WITH RUSSIA AMID DOUBTS OVER ITS EFFECTIVENESS.

The Belarus parliament voted May 4 to ratify the treaty signed April 2 by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Aleksandr Lukashenko to create a Russia-Belarus Community of Sovereign Republics. The vote was 166 in favor, with just a few voting against or abstaining; but a large number of deputies declined to vote. The action was low key and marked by doubts expressed by various groups regarding the treaty’s practical effectiveness. The Belarus Communist party’s parliamentary group provided the strongest support to the Yeltsin-Lukashenko treaty. (Itar-Tass, Interfax, Reuter, NTV, May 4). Russia’s Duma has already ratified the treaty. The Belarus government has expressed disappointment over Moscow’s failure to remove some protectionist tariffs detrimental to Belarus and to remove doubts about the promised write-off of Belarus energy debts to Russia.

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