Yeltsin's illness delays signing of Russia-Belarus union treaty (12/05/99)

Yeltsin's illness delays signing of Russia-Belarus union treaty

RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report

PRAGUE - Much speculation in the Russian and Belarusian media has followed the postponement of the signing of the Belarus-Russia union treaty, which was originally scheduled for November 26.

According to the official version of these developments, Russian President Boris Yeltsin felt ill after a session of Russia's Security Council on November 25 and visited a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a viral infection. The same day, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to say the November 26 signing ceremony at the Kremlin could not take place.

According to one unofficial version circulating in both Moscow and Miensk, President Yeltsin took advantage of his illness to delay the signing of the treaty in order to prevent the current State Duma from ratifying it (elections to the Duma are to be held on December 19).

Another version has it that, at the very last moment, Mr. Yeltsin's advisors questioned some provisions in the draft treaty and advised him to feign illness in order to allow the document to be changed. According to Georgii Tikhonov, head of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, the provisions questioned could be those dealing with the election of a union legislature and the possibility of creating Russian-Belarusian political movements within the union state.

An RFE/RL Miensk correspondent suggested that the postponement might be President Yeltsin's revenge for President Lukashenka's reference to the proposed treaty draft as a "laughing stock" in September. The Belarusian president reportedly said he believed the document did not differ from the union treaty signed in April 1997.

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