…WHILE ANTANOVICH FINDS COMFORT IN RUSSIA’S EMBRACE.

Even as Lukashenka chastised Russia from Vitsyabsk, his foreign minister Ivan Antanovich admonished the West from Minsk. “Western countries must build their policy on the premise that Belarus has centuries-old commitments, including the union with the great Russian people and the other peoples of the former Soviet Union… [The West] must respect this historically developed orientation, this destiny unique to Belarus.” Antanovich further described as “hostile” Poland’s reported intent to start a Western-funded Radio Free Belarus this autumn. (Russian agencies, July 23, see also the Monitor, July 15) The Belarusan national-democratic opposition, for its part, considers that Belarus belonged to Europe when it formed part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth prior to the incorporation in the Russian empire. The “return of Belarus to Europe” is a top priority of the opposition.

GORE IN UKRAINE. U.S.