Just as kind of an irrelevant aside, Belarus produces really good furniture and shoes.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ---------------------------- Belarus supports Ukraine's bid to enter NATO Eds: UPDATES in 7th graf with Ukraine delivering message to NATO of intent to join. By MARINA SYSOYEVA Associated Press Writer
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine (AP) - Belarus' infamously pro-Soviet President Alexander Lukashenko told Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on Wednesday that he fears the new Russian-NATO relationship will alter ties among former Soviet republics, but nonetheless supported Ukraine's intention to join NATO.
"This is Ukraine's sovereign right," Lukashenko said at a meeting between the two leaders in this northern Ukrainian city located halfway between Kiev and the Belarusian capital Minsk. "I absolutely support (Kuchma) that it's necessary to take various steps to promote stabilization in this region and strengthen peace and security."
The two presidents met the day after Ukraine announced plans to enter NATO and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a groundbreaking limited partnership agreement with NATO officials at a summit near Rome.
Two weeks ago in Moscow at a meeting with leaders of the six-nation Collective Security Treaty - of which Ukraine is not a signatory - the stridently anti-Western Lukashenko urged the ex-Soviet members to create "a powerful military-political organization" comparable to NATO.
Humbled by others' rapprochement with their former archenemy, Lukashenko said Wednesday that "with the new Russia-NATO agreement, I'm afraid that another system of relationships will be established in the post-Soviet region."
Calling Ukraine's decision to seek NATO membership "a very serious step," Kuchma welcomed Russia's new partnership with the alliance, adding that "Russia's closer ties with NATO decreases various threats and increases stability on the European continent."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko delivered Kuchma's personal message to NATO Secretary General George Robertson in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday, formalizing Ukraine's intention to seek membership in the alliance, according to Interfax news agency.
As to how Belarus will respond to the altered security landscape if it finds itself surrounded by NATO partners, Lukashenko said: "We'll live and we'll see."
Lukashenko also hinted at an eventual thawing of his own country's future relations with NATO, but he stopped well short of endorsing any step toward membership, saying that closer cooperation depends on the depth of NATO's assistance with problems caused by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Belarus was hardest hit of all the countries to suffer radiation contamination after the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986. Joint Belarus-NATO efforts for Chernobyl relief are slated for this fall.
While the NATO issue dominated the talks, Lukashenko and Kuchma also addressed a raft of economic issues, including a long-simmering dispute over unpaid debts of now bankrupt Ukrainian companies from 1992. The Ukrainian government agreed to pay dlrs 50 million, but Belarus insists that twice as much is owed. The leaders are expected to reach an agreement June 15.
Both Lukashenko and Kuchma stressed the need to increase bilateral trade, which dropped by about 30 percent last year from dlrs 917 million to dlrs 693 million. First-quarter trade volume this year is down almost 50 percent from the same period last year.
The leaders also signed agreements facilitating border crossings and granting favorable import conditions to Belarusian goods.