| Connect to share and comment |
Agence France-PresseFebruary 7, 2013 14:31
Belarus 'loses' USSR dissolution agreement
Belarus has lost the agreement signed on its territory by the heads of three USSR republics in 1991 to dissolve the Soviet Union, one of the signatories and the foreign ministry said Thursday.
The Belevezha Accords, signed on December 8, 1991 at a luxury dacha in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha forest, set up the post-Soviet group the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and effectively dissolved the Soviet Union.
"I am writing my memoirs in Belarussian and I wanted to take a copy in Belarussian," said former Belarus president Stanislav Shushkevich who signed the agreement along with Ukraine's Leonid Kravchuk and Russia's Boris Yeltsin.
"But I was just given a photocopy in Russian, without explanation. I can conclude that the original is not in Minsk. I suspect it has been stolen to sell it at a high price.
"And I can even guess who has done this," he added without giving further details.
Shushkevich, a leading foe of President Alexander Lukashenko, said the agreement should have been in the foreign ministry archives. He said each side received an original copy in their national languages.
Belarus foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh confirmed that the original could not be found.
"We need to work in the archives to find out what has happened," he said emphasising that the agreement still remained in force despite the loss of the document.
tk-sjw/lc
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130207/belarus-loses-ussr-dissolution-agreement
.
-
Photo
Jaume Plensa's "Tel Aviv Man" at Art Basel, the world’s premier trade fair for leading galleries and collectors focused on modern and contemporary art.
- [/] -
Photo
The front of the Art Basel building. This year’s show attracted 303 of the world’s top galleries from 36 countries, showing the works of more than 2,500 artists. It drew more than 62,000 visitors, a new record.
- [/] -
Photo
Platform Gallery's Chen Wei and one of his "Recovery Room" series at Liste Young Artist's show. By the time the week was over he had sold more than 10 works, with prices ranging from $1,800 to nearly $3,000.
- [/] -
Photo
A performance spectator admires some of the pieces at Basel Art.
- [/] -
Photo
A performance piece at Basel Scope, done by an unidentified nearly naked man who moved in slow motion up and down the aisles dressed like a Greek version of Mars, the god of war.
- [/] -
Photo
A performance piece at Scope. The man clutched a staff, on which a plastic container for motor oil with the BP logo was impaled.
- [/] -
Photo
An installation piece at Basel Art.
- [/] -
Photo
An installation piece with paper tubes at Basel Art.
- [/] -
Photo
A gallery scene at the Scope Basel show.
- [/] -
Photo
A sculpture of Sperone Westwater Gallery's employee, Michael Short, by Evan Penny.
- [/] -
Photo
Evan Penny's sculpture of Michael Short.
- [/] -
Photo
A woman views Jaume Plensa's "Tel Aviv Man," (Study) 2010, Galerie Lelong, Paris.
- [/] -
Photo
"Medusa marinara," 1997 — a photographic representation of the Medusa in spaghetti and tomato sauce by New York-based Brazilian artist, Vic Muniz.
- [/] -
Photo
Children play around Ai Weiwei's piece, "Field," 2010.
- [/] -
Photo
Heimo Sobernig's "Black Cube" sits on display outside outside.
- [/] -
Photo
A piece by Yayoi Kusama titled "Pumkin."
- [/]
Follow us: