LUKASHENKA SAYS CIS NONEXISTENT.

Addressing an audience in the Russian city of Volgograd (Stalingrad), Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka asserted that “the CIS has absolutely no prospects for development. There is no CIS in practical terms. It does not even fulfill the function of a political club. The heads of state have not taken any decisions in the last few years.” Long dissatisfied with the CIS, Lukashenka identified for his Volgograd audience the terminal symptom: the attendance by most heads of state at NATO’s anniversary summit in Washington, in spite of the boycott declared by Russia and Belarus (Itar-Tass, May 7).

Eight heads of state attended the Washington summit. The exceptions–aside from the presidents of Russia and Belarus–were Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev, occupied with a complicated internal situation, and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niazov whose country has the status of permanent neutrality. Moscow and Lukashenka were stung by the geographic and functional enlargement announced by the five presidents of the GUUAM group of countries during NATO’s summit (see the Monitor, April 26-28, May 6; The Fortnight in Review, May 7).

OPPOSITION CONDUCTS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN BELARUS.