"Deep concern"

The Belarusian-Russian Parliamentary Assembly at its session in Mahilyou, eastern Belarus, on 16 September adopted a statement expressing "deep concern" about the lack of progress in the two countries' integration, Belapan reported. The assembly pointed out that the Russia-Belarus Union remains without a constitution that would establish a union government and allow elections for a common parliament. The assembly also deplored that the introduction of a common currency has been repeatedly delayed. Russian State Duma Chairman Gennadii Seleznev, who also heads the Belarusian-Russian Parliamentary Assembly, called on Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to make a decision on the union constitution draft that was submitted the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union in April. "The silence should not continue any longer," Seleznev said.