The president of Belarus said Tuesday he was seriously concerned about U.S. plans to deploy elements of a missile defense shield in Central Europe and about NATO's eastward expansion.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Belarusian counterpart, Aleksandr Lukashenko, say they want to increase cooperation between their countries.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrives in Russia this Wednesday evening for an official visit expected to focus on defense and economic issues.

Prosecutors in Belarus say they have charged the former head of the country's state-run oil processing company with corruption and other offenses, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported.

A recent EU decision to end trade preferences for Belarus is about to go into effect. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits will be suspended on June 21 as punishment for the Belarusian government's failure to implement the International Labor Organization's (ILO) recommendations regarding the country's trade unions.

The United States has expressed disappointment that the United Nations Human Rights Council has terminated the mandates of independent experts who studied the rights records of Belarus and Cuba.

Adrian Severin, who served as the United Nations' Special Monitor on Belarus, said the UN Human Rights Council is sending a "wrong and worrying" message to Minsk by deciding not to renew his mandate.

The UN's top human rights body is meeting today in Geneva to decide whether to accept significant changes in the way it works. But there are serious concerns that the 47-nation Human Rights Council will not accept the proposed reforms.

U.S. President George Bush has renewed sanctions against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and other high-ranking officials from the ex-Soviet republic for another year.

Alyaksandr Milinkevich has been voted out of his post as the head of the opposition coalition in Belarus. Members of the Belarusian opposition, meeting at an opposition congress held on May 26-27 at the culture palace of the Minsk Automotive Factory, voted to replace Milinkevich with four coleaders who will serve on a rotating basis.

Iran granted Belarus greater access to oil reserves as the presidents of the countries, both at odds with the United States, met Monday.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says he has signed a deal with Iran to jointly develop an oil field in the Islamic Republic. Mr. Lukashenko announced the deal Monday in Minsk, following talks with visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The leaders gave no details of the project at the Jofeir oil field.