Minsk still hopes to get $500-million loan but Moscow reluctant to give

Belarusian Finance Minister Andrey Kharkavets said that Belarus will continue talks with Russia on a $500-million loan tranche. “The agreement that the Russian Federation will provide the loan has not been cancelled. There was a request from us and we have not changed our approaches so far,” he was quoted as saying.  Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s annual meeting in Istanbul on October 5 that Russia will not provide a $500-million loan to Belarus, the Vzglyad business weekly reported.