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Table of Contents
Country Reports
Belarus, Landmine Monitor Report 2004

Belarus

Key developments since May 2003: Belarus acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 September 2003 and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 2004. Decrees issued in September and October 2003 banned the stockpiling and use of antipersonnel mines that are not command-detonated, and assigned engineering forces to continue stockpile destruction. On 8-9 December 2003, the Belarus Campaign to Ban Landmines/SCAF in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a treaty implementation seminar in Minsk. A National Plan of Action for implementing the treaty has been drafted. Belarus ratified CCW Amended Protocol II on 2 March 2004. Belarus destroyed approximately 223,000 antipersonnel mines in 2003, but still had a stockpile of nearly 4 million mines, including 3.37 million PFM and PFM-1S, as of July 2004. In August 2003, experts from the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency conducted a stockpile destruction assessment mission, and on 7 July 2004, Belarus and NAMSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding on stockpile destruction. In 2003, Belarus cleared a total of 4,169 mines and 6,798 UXO. In August 2003, the Specialized Demining Center of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Belarus was established in Minsk.

Key developments since March 1999: Belarus acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 September 2003 and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 2004. Even as a non-signatory, Belarus attended every annual Meeting of States Parties and intersessional meeting since September 2000. It has participated in numerous regional landmine meetings, and hosted landmine workshops in Minsk in March 2000 and December 2003. In January 2003, Belarus extended its export moratorium (in place since 1995) for five years. On 28 July 2003, Belarus completed the domestic steps necessary to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty with the approval of Presidential Decree 330. Belarus has destroyed some 300,000 antipersonnel mines since 1992. On 7 July 2004, Belarus and NAMSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding on stockpile destruction. In 2000, the UN Mine Action Service conducted an assessment of mine and UXO contamination in Belarus. From 1999-2003, Belarus cleared 4,732 mines and 46,227 UXO. .

Mine Ban Policy

Belarus acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 September 2003. On 12 March 2003, the President of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, had stated that the government was ready to accede to the treaty, and Presidential Decree No. 300 was issued on 28 July 2003, the key final domestic step necessary to join the treaty. The treaty entered into force for Belarus on 1 March 2004. Belarus submitted its initial Article 7 report on 1 July 2004, nearly two months before the deadline of 28 August 2004.[1]

For national implementation measures, Belarus cites Articles 294, 295, 298, and 299 of its Criminal Code which impose penalties for activities relating to the trafficking of explosive materials, such as theft, manufacture, transfer, sale, and storage, as well as the negligent discharge of duty by a person entrusted with protection of explosive materials. Penalties range from correctional labor or restricted freedom to 15 years of imprisonment.[2]

The Council of Ministers issued Decree No. 525 on 6 May 2004.[3] This decree assigned responsibilities to all the government bodies regarding their functions and roles in implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. In line with this Decree, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, as well as the other national agencies involved (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Justice, State Border Committee), developed programs of action to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. As of mid-2004, the Belarus Council of Ministers was considering approval of a National Action Plan for implementation.

Belarus has long demonstrated its support for a comprehensive ban on antipersonnel mines. It participated in the Ottawa Process as an observer and told the December 1997 treaty signing conference that the government could not at that time sign the treaty only because of lack of funds for stockpile destruction and mine clearance.[4] Belarus has attended every Mine Ban Treaty annual Meeting of States Parties as an observer since 2000, noting that it could not attend the First Meeting of States Parties in 1999 due to financial constraints. The country has attended every intersessional Standing Committee meeting, including those held in February and June 2004. Belarus has voted in favor of every annual pro-mine ban UN General Assembly resolution except the first one, in 1996, when it abstained. Belarusian parliamentarians have expressed the commitment to support the ban on antipersonnel mines on several occasions, including in December 2000 and in January 2003.[5]

The Belarus government, especially the Army Corps of Engineers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have collaborated closely the NGO Support Center for Associations and Foundations (SCAF). SCAF is the country representative since 1999 of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and provider of the annual country report for the ICBL’s Landmine Monitor initiative.[6] Colonel Sergei Luchina, the Head of the Engineer Forces of Belarus, played a critical role in the government’s steps toward joining the Mine Ban Treaty and was promoted in May 2004 to the rank of General of the Armed Forces.

On 8-9 December 2003, the Belarus Campaign to Ban Landmines/SCAF in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a seminar in Minsk entitled, “The Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop.” Participants included Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Gerasimenko and other government officials, and representatives from several European countries, the United States and Canada, the ICBL, and several NGOs. The European Commission sent an official statement congratulating Belarus on its accession to the treaty and welcomed cooperation in the elimination of landmines.[7] Previously, Belarus hosted a workshop on demining and stockpile destruction in Minsk on 6-7 March 2000. Belarus participated in regional meetings on landmines held in Lithuania (June 2004), Austria at the OSCE headquarters (8-9 March 2004),Ukraine (February 2003), Russia (November 2002), and Armenia (October 2002).

Belarus is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). The parliament of Belarus ratified CCW Amended Protocol II and submitted the instrument of ratification to the depository on 2 March 2004. Belarus attended the Fifth Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II on 26 November 2003.

Production, Transfer and Use

Prior to joining the treaty, Belarus stated a number of times that it had never produced landmines and that it would not produce or use them in the future.[8] Officials stated that antipersonnel mine use was not part of the military’s doctrine or training.[9]

Government officials indicate that Belarus has not exported antipersonnel mines since independence in 1992. In 1995, a moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines was established which was extended through the end of 2002. On 13 January 2003, Presidential Decree No. 19 extended the export moratorium through the end of 2007.[10] In addition, a 1998 decree prohibits the transit of antipersonnel mines and certain other goods through the territory of Belarus.[11] Regulations regarding transit of antipersonnel mines in Belarus are also part of Presidential Decree 134 adopted on 4 December 2003.[12]

Decrees issued in September and October 2003 banned the stockpiling and use of antipersonnel mines that are not command-detonated, and assigned engineering forces to continue their destruction.[13]

Stockpiling and Destruction

Belarus inherited its stockpile of antipersonnel mines from the Soviet Union. Belarus reported that as of 1 July 2004, it has 3,988,057 mines in its stockpile, including 3,374,864 of the PFM and PFM-1S type. It intends to destroy 3,869,706 of its stockpiled mines by 1 March 2008, the four-year deadline mandated by the Mine Ban Treaty. Belarus will retain its 110,821 MON series mines, since these Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines will be command-detonated and therefore legal under the Mine Ban Treaty.[14] Belarus intends retain 7,530 mines for training and development purposes, as permitted in Article 3: 1,500 PMN; 1,512 PMN-2; 1,500 OZM-72; 1,518 POMZ-2M; 2,500 POMZ-2.[15]

Antipersonnel Landmines Stockpiled as of July 2004[16]

Type
Number
MON-50
46,032
MON-90
27,430
MON-100
29,159
MON-200
8,200
OZM-72
200,847
PMN
46,925
PMN-2
116,616
POM-2
19,624
POM-2 (BKF)
29,200
POM- SV (BKF)
8,500
POMZ-2M
66,361
POMZ-2
14,299
PFM-1
1,792,944
PFM-1S
707,072
PFM-1S (BKF)
413,712
PFM-1S (9m27k3)
461,136
Total
3,988,057

Since the treaty entered into force, Belarus Engineer Forces destroyed 80 PMN landmines in an event held in March 2004 and witnessed by international and domestic media.[17] Between 1992 and January 2004, Belarus destroyed an estimated 300,000 antipersonnel mines without any international assistance, including approximately 223,000 mines in 2003 alone.[18]

According to the Head of the Engineer Forces of Belarus, the country faces several challenges in destroying the stockpile, including lack of funding to build the necessary facilities, and difficulty obtaining appropriate mine destruction technology and finding ecologically safe methods of mine destruction.[19] Belarus estimates that it costs $1 to destroy one antipersonnel mine (except PFM-1 mines).[20] Belarus has declared that it is “incapable of disposing of stockpiled antipersonnel mines independently.”[21]

In October 2002, the Belarus Campaign to Ban Landmines appealed to the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) to establish an EAPC fund without delay for the elimination of antipersonnel mine stockpiles in Belarus and to assist in the country’s continued demining efforts.[22] The Belarus CBL again called for support on 11 November 2003, as part of a Landmine Monitor delegation. In August 2003, through the support of the Canadian government, experts from the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) conducted an assessment mission in Belarus as preparation for the development of an EAPC project on antipersonnel mine stockpile destruction. On 7 July 2004, Belarus and NAMSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding which establishes the legal framework for NAMSA to provide logistics services. Plans are under consideration for a demilitarization project to be carried out in Belarus under NAMSA management, with funding from NATO's Partnership for Peace Trust Fund.[23]

Landmine/UXO Problem

Belarus did not declare any mined areas or areas suspected of containing mines in its initial transparency measures report submitted in July 2004.[24] While Belarus primarily has a problem with unexploded ordnance (UXO), each year it reports clearance of landmines, including more than 4,000 in 2003. There is an unknown number of German and Soviet mines scattered in World War II-era battlefields in Belarus, in particular in the Vitebsk, Gomel, and Minsk regions, as well as in Brest and Mogilev regions. The majority of the affected areas are agricultural land and forests and none are believed to be marked or fenced.[25] Every year the combination of low temperatures and soil pressure brings wartime landmines and unexploded ordnance to the surface, even in areas where post-conflict mine clearance was carried out. The Dubrovno district in Vitebsk is believed to be the most mine- and UXO-affected area in Belarus where, despite clearance operations carried out in 1945-1947 and again in 1993-1994, local authorities maintain an estimated 200,000 mines and UXO remain in an area of approximately 170 square kilometers.[26]

At the December 2003 workshop held in Minsk, participants discussed the level of clearance assistance needed for Belarus and several speakers noted that a UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) assessment conducted in 2000 indicated that affected areas in Belarus mainly consist of unexploded ordnance, and that Belarus should therefore be well-prepared to combat the problem on its own, with perhaps some international assistance in training and equipment.[27]

Landmine/UXO Clearance

Primary responsibility for mine/UXO clearance rests with the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2003, both ministries cleared a combined total of 10,967 mines and UXO. The Ministry of Defense reported that it had located and destroyed at least 3,601 landmines and 3,370 UXO. The items were cleared from the following regions: Minsk (953), Brest (1,085), Gomel (544), Mogilev (399), Grodno (1,224), and Vitebsk (2,766).[28] The Ministry of Internal Affairs cleared 568 landmines and 3,428 UXO.[29]

From 1999-2003, Belarus cleared 4,732 mines and 46,227 UXO. This compares to 937 mines and 114,133 UXO in the previous five years, 1994-1998.

Mines and UXO cleared, 1992-2003

Type
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
AP mines
28
1,220
347
50
182
108
250
289
164
65
45
4,169
UXO
18,733
57,443
84,985
7,527
10,521
6,396
4,704
10,437
7,566
11,926
9,500
6,798
Total
18,761
58,663
85,332
7,577
10,703
6,504
4,954
10,726
7,730
11,991
9,545
10,967

The Ministry of Defense claims to have cleared over 138.7 million explosive devices on a territory of 409 square kilometers since the end of World War II.[30] In March 2000, the Ministry of Defense reported that an estimated 50,000-80,000 explosive items were detected and defused each year over the past decade and of that number, more than 2,500 were antipersonnel mines.[31] In 2004, Col. Sergei Luchina reported that 3,330,000 square meters of land were cleared of mines and UXO in the last decade.[32] The cleared areas were in the district of Krupsky in the Minsk region, in the district of Dubrovensky in the Vitebsk region, and the small town of Titovka in the district of Bobruisk, in the Mogilev region.[33]

Ministry of Defense deminers carry out clearance operations at the request of local authorities. In 2003, they responded to 926 calls for emergency UXO disposal, while the Ministry of Internal Affairs received 832 calls.[34] The Ministry of Internal Affairs deploys ten Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams of 10-15 personnel to respond to urgent calls.[35] Manual methods, dogs and machines are used in the clearance operations. The 2000 UNMAS report said that deminers lacked sufficiently suitable detection and personal protection equipment, and noted that the mine detection equipment was based on dated, Soviet-era technology; it said there is a shortage of vehicles and fuel for use in mine/UXO clearance operations.[36] In March 2002, Canada donated 20 metal detectors to Belarus—the first time the country had received international assistance for its mine and UXO clearance efforts.[37]

In August 2003, the Specialized Demining Center of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Belarus was established in Minsk to conduct research, train deminers and other specialists involved in demining operations, and carry out the more difficult demining operations that require great expertise and special equipment. The deminers are instructed to leave the center and respond to an urgent request for a clearance operation within ten minutes of receiving an emergency UXO disposal call.[38]

Mine/UXO Risk Education

The Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs EOD teams conduct mine/UXO risk education for the civilian population in affected areas prior to the commencement of clearance operations. This training is conducted by individual EOD team officers, with no standard script or educational materials available, based only on the officers’ personal educational experience with the issues. Films depicting EOD clearance and interviews with the officers of the Engineer Forces and representatives of the Belarus Campaign to Ban Landmines are shown regularly on national television. Risk education has not been integrated in the national curriculum for primary and secondary schools. The Ministry of Education expressed a need for international assistance in risk education at the December 2003 workshop in Minsk.[39] UNICEF has stated that it is committed to assisting Belarus in meeting the challenges of risk education.[40]

Landmine/UXO Casualties

In 2003, two people were killed and seven injured by UXO.[41] On 15 May, one person was killed and another injured during the destruction of UXO in the Gomel region. On 2 June, two people were injured, one of who lost a leg, and on 19 September, one person was killed and another injured in the Vitebsk region when UXO they were handling exploded. On 4 August, a man was injured when a UXO buried in the ground exploded after he lit a fire above it in the town of Bobruisk, Mogilev region and two more people were injured in the Vitebsk region on 21 September, for the same reason.[42]

There was an increase in UXO casualties in Belarus in 2003, but the figures provided must be considered with caution in the absence of a comprehensive nationwide monitoring and analysis system. In 2002, two people were killed by UXO and another two injured by landmines.[43] In 2001, three people were killed by UXO and four others were injured, including a child.[44] In 2000, six people, including two children, were injured by UXO in Belarus.[45]

According to the Ministry of Defense, between 1944 and 2002 there were 6,023 mine and UXO casualties, consisting of 2,629 people killed and 3,394 injured.[46]

Survivor Assistance and Disability Policy and Practice

Medical, surgical, rehabilitation and reintegration services available through the Ministry of Health network of hospitals and healthcare institutions throughout Belarus are ranked favorably in comparison to other CIS countries.[47] There are 20 specialized rehabilitation centers, 286 local branches in outpatient clinics, 20 inpatient clinics, and 26 sanatoriums in Belarus. The majority of mine/UXO casualties reach a surgical facility in less than three hours.[48] The military hospital in Minsk acts as a central treatment facility for all trauma victims, including landmine/UXO casualties. The expert level of the staff is high, but due to financial constraints, the hospital is in need of modern equipment and medicines. No separate record of mine casualties is kept.[49]

Most prosthetic and rehabilitation facilities are available in Belarus. All persons with disabilities are assisted through individual programs of rehabilitation; however, due to economic hardships this care is often not adequate. Psychosocial support programs appear to be very limited. The centers are in need of international expertise and welcome collaboration with international organizations in this respect.[50]

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection ensures the medical, social and professional rehabilitation of people with disabilities. The main service provider is the Belarus Prosthetic Rehabilitation Center (BPRC).[51] The BPRC is the main producer of prosthetics in the country, and has its own hospital that can accommodate 80 people at a given time for medical, prosthetic and rehabilitation services; it serves approximately 800 in-patients annually. The BPRC has modern equipment and uses the most advanced technologies.

The BPRC contains an Education Center that provides vocational training for persons with disabilities. The BPRC and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection also cooperate closely with other stakeholders in the socio-economic reintegration of the disabled in Belarus, such as the Department of Employment, research institutions, and NGOs and their international counterparts. NGOs working in this area include the Belarus Foundation for Mercy and Health, Belarus Association of Handicapped, Belarus Association of Veterans of War, Army, and Security Forces, and the Belarus Association of Disabled by War.[52] Through collaboration with the Center for Professional Re-training of Disabled in Dortmund, Germany, a program aimed at vocational training in technical drawing for persons with disabilities was initiated on 1 December 1999. Other programs have also been developed in shoe-making and computer graphics.[53]

Economic reintegration of survivors nevertheless appears problematic, although national disability laws exist and companies are requested by law to engage people with a disability.[54] On 18 August 2002, the Ministry of Health approved “Instructions on how to determine the group and the cause of disability.” One of the causes of disability listed is “Disability since childhood that is a result of injury, shell-shock or battle during the Second World War (or is a consequence of war such as explosion of UXOs).”[55]

A landmine survivor from Dubrovno district participated in the Raising the Voices training in Geneva in February 2004.

Belarus used voluntary Form J in its Article 7 report to simply state that it “needs financial and technological assistance for dealing with the problems at hand.”[56]


[1] The report was submitted in English and Russian and its time period is specified “as of 1 July 2004.”
[2] Article 7 Report, Form A, 1 July 2004.
[3] Decree No. 525, “On Implementation of Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction,” 6 May 2004.
[4] Statement by Mikhail Khvostov, Ambassador of Belarus to Canada, to the Landmines Treaty Signing Conference, Ottawa, 3 December 1997.
[5] Interview with Olga Abramova, Committee on International Affairs and Relations with CIS, House of Representatives, National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk, 11 December 2000; interview with Olga Abramova and Vladimir Novosiad, Members of Parliament, Minsk, 29 January 2003.
[6] The government has stated its support for the Landmine Monitor on several occasions, most recently December 2003, noting that it views the initiative as providing important research on all aspects of landmine issues. Statement by Alexander Khainovsky, Deputy Head, Department of Arms Control, Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 8 December 2003.
[7] Ottawa Convention Implementation by the Republic of Belarus. Materials of the Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 8 December 2003.
[8] Statement by Alexander Baichorov, Head of the Arms Control Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Standing Committee Meetings, Geneva, 10 February 2004; Ministry of Defense Letter #18/17, to SCAF, 20 January 2003.
[9] Statement by Sergei Martynov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geneva, 17 December 1999. Also, ICBL meeting with Sergei Martynov, Geneva, 17 December 1999.
[10] Decree #19 of the President of the Republic of Belarus, “About the Prolongation of the Moratorium on Export of Landmines Till the End of 2007,” 13 January 2002.
[11] Decree #27 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, “About State Control Over Transit Through the Territory of the Republic of Belarus of Specific Goods,” 10 January 1998.
[12] Decree #134 of the President of the Republic of Belarus, “About Circulation of Arms on the Territory of the Republic of Belarus,” 4 December 2003.
[13] Decree #742 of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, 1 September 2003, and Decree #851 of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, 6 October 2003.
[14] Article 7 Report, Form B, 1 July 2004. Although not reflected in its initial transparency report, it is possible that Belarus will retain a certain number of OZM-72 bounding fragmentation mines because an option for command detonation is part of the original design of the mine. Belarus classified the OZM-72 as a “non-directional fragmentation mine.”
[15] Article 7 Report, Form B, 1 July 2004.
[16] Ibid; Letter from Belarus Ministry of Defense to Belarus CBL/SCAF, 9 March 2004.
[17] “Belarus starts destroying antipersonnel mines” Belapan News Agency, 10 March 2004; Lt. Col. Vladimir Kud, “To scrap landmines” WPS: defense and security, 17 March 2004.
[18] Statement by Maj. General Misuragin, Minsk, 6 March 2000. Based on this statement and previous editions of Landmine Monitor Report, Belarus destroyed 22,963 antipersonnel mines in 2002; 3,276 in 2001; 1,244 in 2000; 6,939 from 1997-1999, and some 42,500 from 1992-1996.
[19] Statement by Col. Sergei Luchina, Standing Committee Meetings, Geneva, 11 February 2004.
[20] Statement by Col. Sergei Luchina, Press Conference, Minsk, 19 January 2004.
[21] Article 7 Report, Form J, 1 July 2004.
[22] Appeal by BCBL to the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, 17 September 2002.
[23] NAMSA, “NAMSA signs MOU with Belarus,” Press Release, 7 July 2004.
[24] “Not applicable” is entered on the appropriate forms as it is on the form detailing warning measures provided to the population. Article 7 Report, Form C, Form I, 1 July 2004.
[25] Statement by Col. Sergei Luchina, Press Conference, Minsk, 19 January 2004.
[26] Presentation by Michail Leschinsky, Head of Dubrovno Local Authority, Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 8-9 December 2003.
[27] UNMAS, “Assessment Mission Report: Republic of Belarus, 31 July-4 August 2000.”
[28] Letter from Belarus Ministry of Defense, 20 January 2004.
[29] Presentation by Col. Gennady Pozniak, Ministry of Interior, Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 8-9 December 2003.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Presentation by the representative of the Belarus Ministry of Defense, Minsk, 6-7 March 2000.
[32] Statement by Col. Sergei Luchina, Press Conference, Minsk, 19 January 2004.
[33] Letter from Belarus Ministry of Defense, 20 January 2004.
[34] Ibid; Presentation by Col. Gennady Pozniak, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 8-9 December 2003.
[35] Presentation by Col. Gennady Pozniak, Ministry of Interior, Minsk Workshop, 8-9 December 2003.
[36] UNMAS, “Assessment Mission Report,” p. 13.
[37] Interview with Col. Sergei Luchina, Belarusian Armed Forces, Minsk, 18 July 2002.
[38] Presentation by Col. Gennady Pozniak, Minsk Workshop, 8-9 December 2003.
[39] Presentation by Vassily Ananko, Belarus Ministry of Education, Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 9 December 2003.
[40] Presentation by Ben Lark, UNICEF, the Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 8-9 December 2003.
[41] Letter from Belarus Ministry of Defense, 22 July 2004; confirmed through interviews with local authorities conducted by Belarus CBL representatives.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Letter from Belarus Ministry of Defense, 20 January 2004; confirmed through interviews with local authorities conducted by Belarus CBL representatives. For details see Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 561.
[44] Interview with Col. Luchina, 5 February 2002; letter no. 18/197 from the Ministry of Defense to Support Centre for Associations and Foundations, 11 February 2002; interviews with survivors.
[45] Interview with Col. Luchina, January 2001; MoD Letter #17/1071, 29 November 2000.
[46] Letter from Belarus Ministry of Defense, 20 January 2003.
[47] Assessment Report of Belarus Healthcare system by the WHO mission in January 2003, Evening News shown on Belarus National TV, 25 January 2003.
[48] Statement by Col. Sergei Luchina, Press Conference, Minsk, 19 January 2004.
[49] Presentation by Lt. Col. Andrei Korzun, Senior Doctor, Central Military Hospital, Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 9 December 2003.
[50] Interview with Rita Sushko, Head of Department on Disabled, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Minsk, 23 January 2003.
[51] Presentation by Belarus, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration, Geneva, 10 February 2004.
[52] Presentation by Ivan Volkov, Director of the Belarus Prosthetic Rehabilitation Center (BPRC), Second International Ottawa Convention Implementation Workshop, Minsk, 8-9 December 2003.
[53] Presentation by Belarus, Standing Committee on Victim Assistance, 10 February 2004; Presentation by Ivan Volkov, BPRC, Minsk Workshop, 8-9 December 2003.
[54] Interview with Rita Sushko, Ministry of Labor, 23 January 2003. For details see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 869-870.
[55] The Ministry of Health approved instructions on 18 August 2002.
[56] Article 7 Report, Form J, 1 July 2004.