BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT DENIES HE PRAISED HITLER. In an interview with "Der Spiegel" on 8 December, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka denied that he praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazi political system in a 1995 interview with the German newspaper "Handelsblatt." Lukashenka was quoted as telling a "Handelsblatt" journalist in November 1995: "Not everything that was connected to a certain Adolf Hitler in Germany was bad. Remember his rule in Germany. The German order had grown over centuries. Under Hitler, this process reached its culmination. This is perfectly in line with our understanding of a presidential republic and the role of its president" (see http://www.belarusguide.com/as/law_pol/politics.html). "Handelsblatt" chose not print the passage in question. But the interview, which was taped, was broadcast twice by Belarusian Radio. "If I had really said that, I would have been driven out of my post the next day," Lukashenka told "Der Spiegel" in the more recent interview.

Source: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 230, Part II, 9 December 2003

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