Belarus partially pays Russian power bill

MINSK, Belarus (AP)  Belarus forked over an overdue payment for its massive electricity bill to Russia on Wednesday after Moscow cut power to its financially stricken neighbor.

Russia provides about 10% of Belarus' electricity, but the move to turn it off in the early hours of Wednesday put the struggling country under pressure. The government in Minsk has been hit by protests and was forced to devalue its currency recently, causing panic buying of goods and huge lines at currency exchange offices.

Russia has traditionally been Belarus' main sponsor and ally, but it phased out economic subsidies in recent years as it pushed for control of Belarus' industrial facilities. Last week, Moscow provided Belarus with a $800 million emergency loan, but that falls well short of Belarus' requirements.

Independent experts say Belarus, which is suffering its worst financial crisis since the 1991 Soviet collapse, quickly needs at least $9 billion in loans to stabilize its finances.

Belarus owes Russia about 1.5 billion rubles ($54 million) in in back payments. By late evening, it had paid an installment of 600 million rubles ($21.5 million), said Lyudmila Zenkovich, a spokeswoman for the country's Energy Ministry.

Russian news agencies cited the supplier, Russia's state-run Unified Energy System, as confirming receipt and saying power would be restored in "the next couple of days."

Protests against the government renewed Wednesday and looked to continue into the night.

The current financial crisis has eroded the power of Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has run the nation of 10 million with an iron fist for 17 years, earning the nickname of "Europe's last dictator" in the West.

A poll conducted earlier this month by the Independent Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Research said Lukashenko's approval ratings dropped from 53 percent last fall to 29 percent. The poll of 1,503 respondents had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Social media activists have organized a series of weekly rallies, which attracted thousands of mostly young participants clapping their hands and stomping their feet to protest the government's economic course. Police disbanded the gatherings in Minsk and other Belarusian cities and detained more than 450 people after last week's rally.

Trying to prevent the protests from growing, the Belarusian Defense Ministry issued a statement warning that half of those detained during the past rally were draft dodgers who will be conscripted.

But the organizers vowed to rally anyway. On Wednesday, protesters tried to gather in the heavily policed center of the city, but were moved on — in some cases pushed. Ralliers remained defiant, clapping their hands and marching where they could.

In an apparent bid to scuttle the protest, the government hastily arranged a disco for students on the central October Square. Loud music blared from speakers, but there were few on the dance floor due to torrential rain.

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