Welcoming Dmitry Medvedev, Alexander Lukashenko noted that "there is something to talk about, there are problems and issues that need to be discussed, of a strategic nature, knowing that today is the Union Council of Ministers."

The Christmas tree market season opens today in Vitebsk, reported Oleg Gritskevich, lead engineer for secondary forest use and auxiliary agriculture at the Vitebsk State Production Forestry Association (VGPF).

Assistant to the President of the Republic of Belarus – Chief Inspector for the Vitebsk Region, Nikolai Domashkevich, sharply criticized the activities of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Committee for Agriculture and Food. He expressed his point of view on the committee's work to journalists during a reception of citizens at the regional executive committee, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

According to the republican schedule, the phased shutdown of analog television broadcasting in the Vitebsk region in the first half of this year will proceed as follows.

A working group has been established within the Ministry of Education to study the issue. A report on the measures taken must be submitted to the Investigative Committee by the end of September. If this work does not meet the requirements initially set for eliminating the causes and conditions for the commission of crimes, we will, in accordance with the law, seek their elimination.

The trend towards a reduction in complaints about the work of housing and communal services to executive committees continues in the Vitebsk region, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's department for work with citizens' and legal entities' appeals informed a BELTA correspondent.

On November 3, from 12:56 to 13:06, the duty unit of the Novopolotsk Department of Internal Affairs received reports about the discovery of a suspicious package with possible explosive content near one of the city's stores on Kalinin Street, as well as near the entrance of a residential building on Molodezhnaya Street. Law enforcement and special service units that arrived at the specified locations immediately took comprehensive measures to ensure public safety and examine the package. No explosives were found, however, the clearly provocative nature of the incident is evident," the press group reported. They also explained that the package in question was initially left by a man in one place and then moved to another.

The festival "Cranes and Cranberries of the Miory Region" will be held in Miory (Vitebsk region) on the last Sunday of September. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the Miory District Executive Committee.

The KGBK checked the execution of work schedules for the involvement of unused property in economic circulation in seven districts of the Vitebsk region (Sennensky, Ushachsky, Miorsky, Dubrovensky, Lioznensky, Chashniksky, and Shumilinsky), the regional Committee of State Control informed BELTA.

On March 22, 2014, a "direct line" with the Head of the Department of Transport and Communications of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Gulidin Andrey Viktorovich, will take place.

A direct telephone line with residents of the region will be held by the Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Terentyev Vladimir Vladimirovich (call tel. (8-0212) 20-42-60 from 9.00 to 12.00), as well as the leadership of the city and district executive committees of the region and administrations of the districts of Vitebsk city.

Due to the abnormal heat, over 60% of the region's forest fund is classified as fire hazard class 4.

On November 29, 2014, a "direct line" with Petr Vladimirovich Gnutenko, Deputy Head of the Main Department of Ideological Work, Culture and Youth Affairs of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, will be held.