Byelorussian laws do not prohibit the president of the country to head foreign political parties, including those in Russia, announced the Press Secretary of President Aleksander Lukashenka, Pavel Lyogkiy, reported Telegraf. This statement was made in response to an initiative by Russian parliamentarian Andrei Savelev to create a party based on the patriotic wing of the Russian “Rodina” (Fatherland) party and then hand the leadership of the newly-created party over to the President of Belarus.

“President Lukashenka has not yet received an official offer regarding this matter,” Telegraf cited  Lyogkiy as saying.

Earlier in 2007, the “Lukashenka 2008” political movement was created in Russia by Aleksei Kanurin, an activist from Russia's Movement Against Illegal Immigration, with the goal to promote the candidacy of Aleksander Lukashenka at the presidential elections of 2008, even though the Russian Constitution permits only those who lived no less than 10 years in the country to run for president.

This information was originally published March 23, 2007 (www.telegraf.by).