BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
30/01/2008
Russian Min Criticizes Western Pressure On Belarus
MINSK, Belarus (AFP)--Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized Western countries Wednesday for putting pressure on Belarus, considered "the last dictatorship in Europe" by the U.S.
Meeting his Belarussian counterpart Sergei Martynov in Minsk, Lavrov said that Western diplomatic and economic sanctions against Belarus were " counterproductive and shortsighted."
"We are concerned about the pressure on Belarus from certain Western countries, which is aimed at changing the political system in the republic," Lavrov said.
The U.S. last year blacklisted Belarus' petrochemical monopoly Belneftekhim and has imposed visa bans against Belarussian leaders. The European Union has also set visa bans.
Russia is one of the few supporters of authoritarian Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has also sought to forge ties with anti-U.S. leaderships in Iran and Venezuela.
"Belarus believes that the criticism and unilateral measures of force are unfounded. We are trying to neutralize these issues so that the economic sanctions are removed," Martynov said.
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