Communist leader blasts his colleague for negative attitude towards Belarus

The Communist faction will ask the State Duma to give an evaluation ofstatements made by Union of Right Forces leader Boris Nemtsov regarding theunification of Russia and Belarus, Communist chief Gennadiy Zyuganov saidat a news conference today. He maintains that the managing council of theparliament's upper house should scrutinize Nemtsov's declarations, whichare aimed at the derogation of Beralus and Russia's national interests.According to Zyuganov, a vehement campaign is currently being waged againstBelarus, "which is our strategic ally." "Nemtsov and his party mates'attempts to rift the alliance are a crime against the peoples of ourcountries," he added. Earlier several mass media sources published the transcript of telephoneconversations between Nemtsov and representatives of the Belarusianopposition, in which he had strongly criticized the policy of BelarusianPresident Alexander Lukashenko and his stance on the unification withRussia..