Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

The Belarusian Transport and Communications Ministry has signed a supplementary agreement with the Austrian company Kapsch TrafficCom AG in order to simplify road toll collection procedures, the ministry's press service told BelTA.

In line with the Council of Ministers' resolution No.427 of 21 July 2020 the Transport and Communications Ministry signed a supplementary agreement to the investment contract between Belarus and Kapsch TrafficCom AG on creating and operating a digital system for collecting road toll for vehicle passage along certain Belarusian roads.

The supplementary agreement was signed in order to implement Belarus president decree No.108 of 24 March 2020 and is meant to simplify the road toll collection regulations.

As from 15 December 2020 drivers of vehicles that weigh 3.5 tonnes and less and are not registered in the Eurasian Economic Union will be able to pay for passage along Belarusian toll roads for a certain period.

Drivers will be able to buy an electronic vignette that will allow them to travel along Belarusian toll roads for a certain period of time. Electronic vignettes will be available at any BelToll customer service point or on the official website beltoll.by.

The national air carrier Belavia has extended suspension of air travel to Russia till 14 August, BelTA learned from the website of the airline.

Flights to Krasnodar and Sochi were suspended till 15 August.

Customers who purchased tickets for these travel dates will be able to apply for a refund or to reschedule the flight till 30 March 2021. Tickets can be refunded and flights can be rescheduled at company's offices and customer service centers.

The Belarusian national airline Belavia resumes flights to Warsaw and Tallinn, BelTA learned from Belavia's Facebook account.

Daily flights to Warsaw will resume on 29 July.

Flights to Tallinn will resume on 1 August. Flights will be operated twice a week (Tuesday/Saturday) from 1 to 15 August. The Belarusian airline plans to increase the number of flights in the future.

Belavia reminds travelers that entry restrictions are in place in Poland and Estonia. The airline recommends checking the information before buying a ticket.

The national air carrier Belavia has extended suspension of air travel to Russia till 7 August, BelTA learned from the website of the airline.

Flights to Krasnodar and Sochi were suspended till 15 August.

Customers who purchased tickets for these travel dates will be able to apply for a refund or to reschedule the flight till 30 March 2021. Tickets can be refunded and flights can be rescheduled at company's offices and customer service centers.

The exit poll at the presidential election in Belarus will be monitored by international and national experts, Director of the office of the Interstate Broadcasting Company Mir in Belarus Vladimir Pertsov told reporters in Minsk on 28 July, BelTA has learned.

According to Vladimir Pertsov, the office of the Interstate Broadcasting Company Mir in belarus addressed international experts to help monitor the exit poll. “We have sent invitations to many experts in a number of countries. These are the UK, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Armenia, and other states,” he said.

Some of them have responded already. The director of the office of the Interstate Broadcasting Company Mir in Belarus did not specify the countries. “We expect answers from all the invited experts and changes to restrictions in some European countries due to the coronavirus epidemic,” he explained. According to Vladimir Pertsov, the initiators of the exit poll hope that more experts will confirm their participation in early August.

Apart from international specialists, national experts will observe the exit poll, too.

The national exit poll is due on 9 August. The sociological research has been initiated by the office of the Interstate Broadcasting Company Mir in Belarus. The survey will be conducted by the Youth Laboratory of Sociological Studies of the Belarusian Committee of Youth Associations.

The Transport and Communications Ministry of Belarus is waiting for a response of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) regarding the resumption of air travel between Belarus and Russia, BelTA learned from the press service of the Transport and Communications Ministry of Belarus.

“The Aviation Department of the Transport and Communications Ministry held consultations with Rosaviatsia and sent a letter to Rosaviatsia suggesting resumption of air travel. The Russian side has not responded yet,” the press service noted.

The ministry did not specify when flights might be resumed, as no agreement has been reached with Russia yet. “On our part, we are ready to resume air travel between our countries,” the press service noted.

A reminder, Russia announced a decision to resume some international flights from 1 August. International flights were grounded on 27 March to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The list of destinations will initially be limited to Tanzania, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

An agreement to launch joint master's and postgraduate programs was signed by Belarusian State University (BSU) and Dalian University of Technology (DUT).

The heads of the two universities Andrei Korol and Guo Dongming signed the document during an online meeting, BelTA learned from the the press service of Belarusian State University.

The document provides for strengthening and expanding bilateral cooperation, joint training of specialists at the second stage of education and personnel of highest qualifications. The programs will be running at the joint Chinese-Belarusian DUT-BSU Institute in Dalian, China. The working language of the programs is English, the additional languages are Russian and Chinese,” the press service informed.

Graduates will receive diplomas of the two universities. Postgraduates will also have an opportunity to get the Candidate of Sciences diploma after a successful theses defense and the corresponding approval by the Higher Attestation Commission of Belarus. Training of postgraduates will strengthen the scientific potential of the two countries through joint coordination of scientific activities. The agreement provides for dual guidance of thesis research by scholars of the two universities.

Belarusian State University and the Dalian University of Technology have been cooperating since 2007. Over the time the two universities have signed agreements on sci-tech and education cooperation. The Institute of Belarusian State University and the Dalian University of Technology was set up in China in 2017 and the Belarusian-Chinese DUT-BSU Institute in Belarus in 2019. Over 300 students from Belarus and China are currently studying in the joint institutes.

Belarus is taking the first steps to train its own cosmonaut, BelTA learned from Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Vladimir Gusakov in an interview.

The official said: “In my opinion, we should definitely expand the country's presence in outer space. The plan to train and send the first cosmonaut of sovereign Belarus into outer space may seem overly ambitious. However, the first steps towards this goal are already being made.”

Vladimir Gusakov met with Director General of the state corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin in January 2020. The sides reached an agreement that Belarusian scientists will visit the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center in order to get familiar with its operation. The Russian side received a list of the NASB employees the academy intends to send there. The organizations include the Radiobiology Institute, the Central Botanical Garden, the Applied Science Center for Bioresources, and the Physiology Institute. These NASB representatives can be later viewed as potential Belarusian candidates, who can be trained in the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center and participate in space flights. The possibility of evaluating their fitness for space flights is being discussed.

The Belarusian scientists will visit the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center once all the restrictions caused by the spread of the coronavirus infection are lifted. The possibility of participation of NASB representatives in Roscosmos' ground experiments using research products of Belarusian scientists will be discussed during the visit as well.

Vladimir Gusakov pointed out that sons of Belarus had already been to outer space. The cosmonauts Piotr Klimuk and Vladimir Kovalenok completed their space missions during the USSR times. Oleg Novitsky is a Russian pilot-cosmonaut. Other cosmonauts have Belarusian roots, too – Valentina Tereshkova, Oleg Artemyev, Anton Shkaplerov, and Georgy Grechko. “Belarusians, who work as design engineers, technical engineers, scientists and heads of organizations and enterprises, have contributed and keep contributing to the development of the space industry in the USSR and Russia,” the chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus stressed.

The Belavia national air carrier has extended suspension of flights to a number of destinations, BelTA learned from the official website of the airline.

Flights to Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn will be suspended till 28 July, to all destinations in Russia, as well as Tashkent and Larnaca till 31 July, to all destinations in Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as Vienna till 15 August and Ashgabat till 1 September.

Customers who purchased tickets for these travel dates will be able to apply for a refund or to reschedule the flight till 31 December 2020. Tickets can be refunded and flights can be rescheduled at company's offices and customer service centers. Customers will be able to change the date of travel only once.

The Belarusian national air carrier Belavia will perform a one-time charter flight from Minsk to Tashkent and back on 28-29 July, BelTA learned from Belavia's Instagram account.

“Seeking ways to return citizens home amid the situation with the coronavirus Belavia will perform a flight from Minsk to Tashkent and back. The departure from Minsk is at 20:10 on 28 July. The departure from Tashkent is at 03.50 on 29 July (local time),” the company said.

Tickets are available on the website belavia.by, in the offices of the air company and agents.

The airline recommends checking with travel companies for issues related to self-isolation and quarantine.