Russians lose face as Belarus deal collapses

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was last night ploughing ahead with a referendum, due before the voters today, that has caused international alarm, a huge domestic political crisis and sudden doubts over the small former Soviet republic's willingness to do as Mother Russia orders.

In particular, the relationship between Minsk and Moscow, sealed by both history and treaties, was yesterday under stress after a Russian-mediated peace deal fell apart a day after it had been cobbled together with the Kremlin's blessing.

Under the accord, Mr Lukashenko had agreed that the referendum, which would extend his term and give him dictatorial powers, would not be binding. In return the speaker of parliament agreed to stop parliamentary moves to impeach him.

But yesterday tensions were fast rising again in Minsk, after the President appeared on the heavily censored television airwaves to announce that the referendum would be binding after all.

His control of the media, and much of the country's security apparatus (including a Soviet-style KGB), means it is likely to pass - bringing him into direct conflict with parliament, whose powers his referendum seeks drastically to curtail.

The speaker of parliament, Semyon Sharetsky, responded to the announcement by saying that the impeachment process would be restarted in the Constitutional Court - although it was unclear if he had mustered the necessary 70 MPs' signatures, as several had reportedly dropped out.

The withdrawal of both sides from the agreement came after six hours of heated debate on Friday night in Belarus's parliament, which refused to approve the deal, sealed earlier on Friday during talks mediated by the Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, and the leaders of the two Russian parliamentary chambers.

The setback is a considerable embarrassment for Mr Yeltsin, who - only 17 days after his multiple coronary bypass - appeared on television on Friday night to take credit for a "great victory" in a clear effort to prove to the world - much of which has expressed alarm at Mr Lukashenko's activities - that he is back in charge.

Moscow is keen to demonstrate that it is still the dominant force in the region, capable of sorting out an episode that has some similarities with Mr Yeltsin's own bloody conflict with his legislature in 1993. Russia controls energy supplies to Belarus, a small country of 10 million people sandwiched between Russia and Poland, giving it the power to wreck its already miserable, mostly state-controlled economy.

Although Belarus maintains a large military machine, and a sizable presidential guard, Mr Lukashenko has long sought closer ties with Moscow. Until now, few have questioned Mr Yeltsin's ability to force his troublesome junior partner to toe the line.

But yesterday, he was still struggling to do so. Mr Yeltsin's spokesman cautioned against hasty judgements, and insisted that the President remained confident that a peaceful settlement would be reached.

But he acknowledged that the pact was being resisted by "extremists" from both sides in the conflict. The only glimmer of good news was an announcement by the Russian military that the 18 Soviet interballistic missiles that had been on Belarus's soil have now been moved to Russia, obeying the terms of Start 1.

In a separate development, President Yeltsin yesterday moved to clear away one of the central sticking points in efforts to reach a settlement in Chechnya. He signed a decree ordering the two remaining Russian brigades in the republic to be withdrawn. "This decree is a new confirmation of the President's view that there is no military way of solving the Chechen problem," said Mr Yeltsin's spokesman. The separatist leadership has long called for the troops' withdrawal, saying that their presence would disrupt plans for elections in Chechnya on 27 January.