Belarus sets up customs posts on Russia’s border as trade dispute escalates

September 30th, 2009 Russia, Belarus hold joint military exercisesMINSK, Belarus — Russia and Belarus on Tuesday completed two days of massive joint military exercises on bases that are close to borders with NATO members. Officials said about 12,500 servicemen took part in the West-2009 exercises, roughly half from each country, in Russia's westernmost Kaliningrad region, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, and in southern Belarus about 75 miles (125 kilometers) from the Polish border.

August 10th, 2009 Lenin statue collapses, kills man in BelarusMINSK, Belarus —A massive statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin collapsed on a man who was hanging from it Monday, killing him on the spot, authorities said. The 21-year-old man was drunk when he climbed onto the five-meter (16-foot)-high plaster monument and hung from its arm, the Emergency Situations ministry said.

July 10th, 2009 Russia's Medvedev says joint WTO bid "problematic"L'AQUILA, Italy — Russia's plans to join the World Trade Organization as a three-way customs union including Kazakhstan and Belarus could be "problematic," President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday. Medvedev's comments, at the G8 summit in the Italian town of L'Aquila, were the latest indication that Moscow was backtracking on its earlier statements that Russia would seek to join WTO as a customs union with the other two ex-Soviet nations.

June 26th, 2009 Belarusian rider Stagurskaya dies in road accidentMINSK, Belarus — Former road race world champion Zinaida Stagurskaya has been killed after being hit by a car while training in her native Belarus. Police say the 38-year-old cyclist was killed when an oncoming car crossed the center line on the Vitebsk-Gomel highway in eastern Belarus on Thursday.

June 17th, 2009 Belarus removes customs posts on Russia's borderREDKI, Belarus — Russia and Belarus stepped back from their growing trade dispute Wednesday, as Minsk said it would dismantle new customs posts following Moscow's agreement to resume dairy imports from its western neighbor. But a potentially more troubling conflict loomed as Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly said Belarus owed more than $200 million in debts for gas supplies this year, and demanded payment by next week.

June 17th, 2009 Belarus puts customs posts on Russia's borderREDKI, Belarus — Belarus set up customs posts on its border with Russia on Wednesday for the first time in 14 years as a trade dispute between the two countries escalated. Belarusian customs officials said that as of Wednesday morning all cargo coming from Russia would be subject to new rules, including more stringent inspections.

June 14th, 2009 Belarus boycotts summit in Russia disputeMOSCOW — Two former Soviet republics refused to sign onto a deal Sunday to create a NATO-style rapid-reaction force for a Moscow-dominated security alliance, undermining a Kremlin bid to bolster its power and prestige amid a struggle with the West for regional clout. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko angrily boycotted the Moscow summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization amid a politically charged trade dispute with longtime ally Russia.

June 14th, 2009 Belarus boycotts summit in Russia disputeMOSCOW — Belarus boycotted a Moscow-led security summit on Sunday to protest a Russian ban on Belarusian dairy products, deepening a politically charged dispute between the two ex-Soviet neighbors. The boycott raised the stakes in the confrontation between Russia and Belarus, an authoritarian regime that is now courting the West amid increasingly strained relations with its longtime ally.

June 5th, 2009 Lukashenko accuses Russia of blackmailMINSK, Belarus — Belarus' leader has accused Russia of trying to blackmail Belarus into recognizing the independence of Georgia's separatist provinces. Alexander Lukashenko says Moscow has made recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia a condition for Belarus to receive the last $500 million of a $2 billion loan.

April 30th, 2009 GANGTOK - Bilateral trade between Asian giants India and China will resume through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim on the famed Silk Route Friday, with the government promising traders a new mart near the border, officials said. Nathu La is one of the three trading border posts between India and China, the other two being Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and Lipulekh in Uttarakhand.

April 28th, 2009 Zueva sets new 50-meter backstroke world recordMOSCOW — Anastasia Zueva has set a new world record in the women's 50-meter backstroke by clocking 27.48 seconds at the Russian summer swimming championships. The 18-year-old Zueva shaved 0.19 seconds off the mark set by Australia's Sophie Edington in March last year in Sydney.

March 2nd, 2009 SHILLONG - Bangladeshi frontier guards Sunday returned to their posts after a mutiny Feb 25-26 left more than 100 people dead, an Indian official said. Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troopers were off duty from their posts along the border with India after Wednesday's mutiny in their headquarters at Dhaka.

February 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - India and Belarus expect the bilateral trade to go up to $500 million by 2010 from $432.1 million in 2008, a top diplomat said here Tuesday. Belarussian Ambassador to India Oleg N.

January 29th, 2009 AMRITSAR - A round-the-globe peace tour by a Swiss couple has hit a roadblock at the Attari border - thanks to Indian laws that do not allow their ponies into the country without special permission. The globetrotters, Matthias and Celina from Switzerland, are stuck at the India-Pakistan joint border checkpost at Attari, 30 km from here, as customs officials are not allowing their ponies to be let into India without formal sanction.

January 28th, 2009 KATHMANDU - India and Nepal have agreed to revamp two key border check posts by February 2011 for greater security as well as better trade and traffic. A bilateral Project Steering Committee comprising India's border management secretary Shantanu Consul and Nepal's secretary for physical planning and works Umakant Jha met in Nepal's border town Birgunj Thursday to draw up a fast-track road map for upgrading the key check posts at Birgunj in Nepal's Parsa district and Raxaul in India's Bihar state, via which nearly two-thirds of Indo-Nepal trade takes place.