Moscow. 21 October 2004. We are indignant at what has happened in Belarus: during the violent dispersal of the demonstration organized by the opposition, the police beat Russian reporters from NTV and RAO UES subsidiary Ren-TV. Two employees of Ren-TV were injured, reporter Elena Solovyeva and cameraman Vladimir Kostin. The police punched the young woman and kicked the operator.

We had expected for the Belarus authorities to react to this outrageous incident. They have reacted today, and this reaction is even more outrageous than the incident itself. In fact, it is the journalists who are blamed for what has happened. They are accused of not saying what the Belarus authorities believe is right.

As the Company's chief executive, I am responsible for the safety of our employees, regardless of where they are working, in the energy sector or in television.

We demand that the Belarus authorities, first, carry out an official investigation, secondly, punish those who are guilty of the incident, and third, apologize to our employees who have suffered as a result of apparent breach of the law by the representatives of the authorities.

Such events, among other things, harm the business relationships between RAO "UES of Russia" and Belarus companies: we have some serious joint projects whose development directly depends on the stance of the Belarus authorities.