Belarus condemns in the strongest possible terms the decision of the Polish authorities to deny entry to a Belarusian parliamentarian, member of the national delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly who was officially included in the OSCE PA election observation mission that was set to monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections in Poland on 15 October, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus reported.
“We strongly condemn the decision of the Polish authorities to deny entry to a Belarusian parliamentarian, member of the national delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly who was officially included in the OSCE PA election observation mission that was set to monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections in Poland on 15 October,” Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Glaz said.
He recalled that Warsaw included all Belarusian deputies and senators in its national visa lists and Schengen visa lists. However, Poland's unilateral politicized decision stripped Belarus of the opportunity to fully participate in the OSCE election observation throughout Europe.
“Discrimination against members of the OSCE PA international observation mission in an attempt to filter out ‘undesirable' observers is a gross violation by the Polish authorities of their OSCE commitments,” Anatoly Glaz said.
“Perhaps Warsaw is afraid that the participation of one Belarusian parliamentarian in monitoring the elections in Poland will undermine national security? Or does Warsaw, which claims the role of a regional democracy champion, have something to hide from independent international observers?” Anatoly Glaz asked a rhetorical question.
According to the spokesman, such actions undermine confidence in the electoral process in Poland and raise doubts about the fairness and transparency of these elections. “Moreover, such actions by the country that hosts the headquarters of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the key institution entrusted with the task of election observation in the OSCE area, hamper the entire system of inclusive election observation,” he added. “The OSCE is unable to enforce its own rules. In such a situation, it is not surprising that countries are turning to other structures that are able to conduct a non-discriminatory, truly independent and professional election observation.
Belarus will have to take this unfriendly step of Warsaw into account when building its bilateral relations with Poland, and even more so when deciding on inviting foreign observers to monitor elections in Belarus in the future, Anatoly Glaz emphasized.
As BelTA reported, Poland denied entry to member of the House of Representatives Denis Karas who was going to participate in the international observation of the parliamentary elections in Poland.
"The Republic of Poland officially invited the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, its member states and organizations, including the Parliamentary Assembly, to take part in the international observation of the upcoming parliamentary elections in their country. The Republic of Belarus responded to this proposal. In accordance with the decision by the leadership of the House of Representatives, my candidacy as a member of Belarus' national delegation to the OSCE PA was submitted to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in accordance with the established procedure and in line with all the requirements," Denis Karas said. “The OSCE PA formed its observation mission for the upcoming elections, in which I was officially included. My data was promptly sent to the Central Election Commission of Poland for accreditation as an international observer from the OSCE PA."
It was expected that the Belarusian MP would monitor the elections in Warsaw. "Indeed, any country has the right to deny entry to foreign citizens. We do not dispute this right. However, by the time we approached the border on 12 October, we had not received any signals from Poland or the OSCE PA International Secretariat that my candidacy as an observer was unacceptable to the Polish authorities. That Belarusian Parliament proceeded from that while sending me on a business trip," the MP noted. "Despite the difficult situation in relations between Belarus and Poland, the status of an OSCE participating state and the very fact of sending an invitation to monitor the elections oblige Warsaw to comply with the law and provide the access of international observers to the elections."
"We are extremely disappointed with the decision of the Polish authorities who used a far-fetched pretext to deny entry to Poland to the Belarusian observer to monitor the parliamentary elections in Poland as part of the OSCE PA observation mission," the MP added. According to him, Minsk views this decision as another unfriendly step, outright arbitrariness and discrimination against international observers. The motives that the Polish authorities were guided by while making this openly unfriendly decision are incomprehensible for Belarus. In any case, it undermines confidence in the electoral process in Poland and raises doubts about the fairness and transparency of the elections.
"In general, in my opinion, such actions undermine any credibility in the very idea of inclusive election observation under the auspices of the OSCE. The observation when representatives of neighboring countries are excluded from the process with the tacit consent of the assembly is worthless," Denis Karas said.
Answer:
Dear Shivendu Paul and Metali Listeners' Club,
dthank you for your comment! We'll send you some of our souvenirs ASAP.
Stay tuned and 73,
RBI
Hallo Radio Belarus,
ja der Dieter Leupold ist jetzt auch hier im Gästebuch vertreten... Super, bald sind wir alle zusammen hier im "Belarus Hörerclub", Dieter könnte 1.Vorsitzender werden und Jana und Elena Ehrernmitglieder, Helmut Matt Schriftführer, Alfred Albrecht Beisitzer und ich mache Hausmeister:-) Lutz Winkler wie fit bist Du bereits wieder, für Dich finden wir auch eine nette Aufgabe:-) Beste Grüße und ein schönes Wochenende.
Dietmar
Answer:
Lieber Dietmar,
das stimmt, für alle finden wir im Hörerklub eine Aufgabe!:)
Liebe Grüße und einen guten Start in die Woche!
I recently learned my surname is not Polish, but Belarusian. I heard you on shortwave in the past and am so happy to listen online in English. We hear nothing about Belarus here in the US so I am so glad to learn about your country. Keep on broadcasting in English. I also joined the Hoererklub on Facebook as I can understand German. If you have information or a station pennant, I will very much appreciate it.
Sheryl Paszkiewicz, 1015 Green St, Manitowoc WI 54220 USA
Answer:
Dear Sheryl, thank you very much for listening to us! We'll send you some of our souvenirs as soon as we can. By the way, if you're interested, you can participate in our "The Old Country's Loving Call" project and send a greeting to Belarus. You can find more detailed information at http://www.radiobelarus.by/en/content/hukaje_eng
Also, in case you like sports, here's the link to an international competition of ours "My Greetings to 2nd European Games" http://www.radiobelarus.by/en/content/games_eng
73 from the entire staff of RBI! Прывiтанне з Малой Радiзмы :)
Hello from Birmingham United Kingdom!
My name is Michael.
I really enjoyed listening to your program on the Hotbird satellite 13e. I very much love listening to your news and current affairs.
Ask you to send me a small gifts. I hope you guys are all good.
Lots of love from UK
Especially enjoying learning about Belarus. History and culture
Michael Rogers
Flat 2 463 City road Birmingham
B17 8LG
United Kingdom
Answer:
Michael,
thank you very much for listening to us! We're glad that you enjoy our programs. We'll send you some of our souvenirs as soon as we can. Best regards and stay tuned!
Hello. I am a new listener to your English service. I listen on the Radio 1 News app. I enjoyed listening to the news. Do you have any information on shortwave broadcasts you can send me?
Thank you,
Joe Cosimo
23 Ivy Ln, Dupont, PA 18641 U.S.A.
Answer:
Dear Joe, thank you for listening to Radio Belarus International! We're glad that you enjoyed our news. RBI broadcasts on shortwave only in German on 6005 and 3985 kHz. News and programs in English are available via our website and satellites. We'll also send you a postcard and a small souvenir as soon as we can. 73!
Hello,
My name is Younes Lazazi, I am from Algeria.
I am very happy that radio Belarus has started broadcasting in Arabic.
I would like to receive stickers and printed matter of the station and the Arabic and french services if possible.
My address:
Monsieur Younes Lazazi 14 rue Maza Boualem El-Harrach 16009 Alger Algérie
Thank you.
Answer:
Dear Younes Lazazi,
we're happy that you like our boradcasts. We'll send you some of our printed materials via mail in the nearest future. 73!
Dear English Service Radio Belarus,
Greetings to all staff and listeners of English Service of Radio Belarus. We listen your webcast program. Your program quality is very nice. Your website is colorful & documented. We liked your programs, News, and Current Affairs Program. We are interested about Culture, life style of Belarusian people, historical places, Tourist attraction and destination of Belarus.
Please send some program schedule, sticker, view card, Promotional items of Radio Belarus for our club members and students.
We are waiting for your reply.
With best wishes,
SHIVENDU PAUL
President
Metali Listeners' Club
India
Answer:
Dear Shivendu Paul,
thank you very much for listening to us! Your club is among our most dedicated listeners. We will send you some of our promotional products as soon as possible. 73!
Hello!
Did the arabic programmes start? I don't see them on your Internetcast schedule page. Thanks!
Answer:
Hello! The Arabic programmes have been on air since October, every Monday. You can see the schedule and listen to them on our Arabic page http://radiobelarus.by/ar
FM transmitters and frequencies:
Rakitnitsa - 106.2 MHz
Hrodna - 95.7 MHz
Svislach - 104.4 MHz
Heraniony - 99.9 MHz
Braslau - 106.6 MHz
Miadzel - 102.0 MHz
Satellite broadcasting:
see satellite parameters here
