Russia holds 500 million dollar loan against Belarus

Xinhua Beijing, May 30, Russia has been using Belarus to manipulate the exchange rate as a reason to shelve the 500 million U.S. dollar loan plan for Belarus, and alleged that the Belarusian economy may be bankrupt this year. According to the Singapore Lianhe Zaobao, Russian Finance minister Kudrin said the country's economy could be bankrupt by the end of this year because of a lack of adequate reserves. But Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, said such extreme forecasts were inappropriate. He added that Russia would be available at any time if it needed support and assistance.　　But Mr Putin did not mention the loans on hold.　　Earlier, Russia had promised to provide 5 billion of billions of dollars in loans to Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, one of the former Soviet republics, to save the economies of those countries. Belarus is the second former Soviet republic to be rebuffed by Russia and the other is Ukraine. It is the crux of the loan dispute that the two countries move closer to the EU. Belarus has been invited to participate in the EU-driven "Eastern Partnership" plan, and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said he wants to join the EU and NATO.