MINSK, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Belarus’s central bank is unlikely
to raise its key rate in December, bank governor Nadezhda
Yermakova said on Tuesday, despite a call for urgent tightening
from the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF urged the former Soviet republic last month to start
raising interest rates immediately, and avoid overstimulating
its economy, to keep a lid on inflation and maintain stability
after a crisis last year which led to a 65-percent rouble
devaluation.

MINSK (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back troubles stem from a recent bout of judo, according to the leader of the neighbouring state of Belarus.

“I know he has this problem. He loves judo. He lifted a guy, threw him, and twisted his spine,” Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko told Reuters in an interview.

MINSK (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back troubles stem from a recent bout of judo, according to the leader of the neighbouring state of Belarus.

“I know he has this problem. He loves judo. He lifted a guy, threw him, and twisted his spine,” Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko told Reuters in an interview.

MINSK (Reuters) – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko accused the International Monetary Fund of playing politics and said the Fund should clear the way for a new $3.5 billion credit program.

The former Soviet republic, which is recovering from a balance-of-payments crisis and a subsequent devaluation of the Belarussian rouble, faces a foreign debt repayment crunch in 2013.

MINSK (Reuters) – He is a pariah in the West, viewed suspiciously by Russia and loathed by opponents in exile or jail, but Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko is relishing his notoriety as Europe’s last dictator.

After 18 years in power, the blunt, forceful and heavily built former state farm manager shows no sign of bowing to Western pressure to relax his grip on the former Soviet republic squeezed between Russia and the European Union.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel took Russian President Vladimir Putin to task over a clamp-down on dissent and treatment of the Pussy Riot punk band when they held frosty talks on Friday.

But despite the chill descending on relations, they signed a host of economic deals underlining the importance of mutual trade which Putin put at $72 billion in 2011, as well as Germany’s dependence on Russia as an energy supplier.

MOSCOW, Nov 16 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel
will complain to President Vladimir Putin on Friday about a
crackdown on political freedoms in Russia at talks likely to
deepen a chill between the two big European powers.

Merkel has been asked by the German parliament to express
concern about the state of human rights in Russia since the
former KGB spy returned to the presidency for a six-year third
term in May.

MOSCOW, Nov 16 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel
will complain to President Vladimir Putin on Friday about a
crackdown on political freedoms in Russia at talks likely to
deepen a chill between the two big European powers.

Merkel has been asked by the German parliament to express
concern about the state of human rights in Russia since the
former KGB spy returned to the presidency for a six-year third
term in May.

MOSCOW, Nov 15 (Reuters) – The Kremlin denounced a rise in
anti-Russian rhetoric in Germany on Thursday before a visit by
Chancellor Angela Merkel and made clear that Vladimir Putin
would stand his ground if she lectures him on human rights.

Merkel is expected to carry out a request by Germany’s
parliament to press Putin on Friday over what critics say is a
crackdown on dissent since he returned to the presidency in May.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin replaced the chief of his military staff on Friday in a reshuffle that stamped the authority of the Kremlin chief, and his new defense minister, on the armed forces after a corruption scandal.

Putin removed General Nikolai Makarov after four years as the nuclear power’s top general and replaced him with General Valery Gerasimov, 57, a commander who fought Muslim separatists in the Chechnya region.