BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Thu Apr 21, 2005 08:44 AM ET

Russia, U.S. Clash Over Belarus 'Dictator'

By Saul Hudson and Sebastian Alison

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Russia and the United States clashed on Belarus on Thursday as Moscow's foreign minister rebuffed a call by the Secretary of State for change in what she branded central Europe's "last true dictatorship."

"We would not of course advocate what some people call 'regime change' anywhere," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference at a meeting between NATO and Russia in the Lithuanian capital.

He was responding to remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday that Lukashenko ran "the last true dictatorship in the center of Europe," and that "it's time for change to come to Belarus."

Rice retaliated immediately by meeting Belarus opposition leaders in a show of support for pro-democracy groups in the ex-Soviet state despite Russian concerns that the United States was interfering in its traditional sphere of influence.

"While it may seem difficult and long, at times even far away, there will be a road to democracy in Belarus," the top U.S. diplomat told a group of Belarussian activists.

She said there was nothing wrong with Washington supporting pro-democracy groups -- as it did last year during Ukraine's "Orange revolution" which helped create a pro-Western government -- if it led to Belarussians throwing off the "yoke of tyranny."

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana agreed with Rice's call for change.

"There is no doubt that the time has come for change, I have said that many, many, many years ago," Solana, who also met the opposition activists, told reporters.

He urged the opposition to unite against Lukashenko and called for a free media to be allowed to operate in Belarus.

"Civil society and opposition should unite, if possible around one candidate, in the upcoming 2006 presidential elections," Solana's spokesman Juri Laas said.

Some Western commentators have suggested Belarus, run by Lukashenko since 1994, may be next in line for change after street protests toppled autocratic leaders in the former Soviet states of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Lukashenko, accused abroad of crushing opponents and the media, has warned the West against stirring up trouble in the country of 10 million people wedged between Russia and EU members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

He has vowed to thwart any efforts at revolution.

A senior Belarussian lawmaker complained that Rice was appealing for the government's ouster.

"This is an appeal to overthrow the administration of a sovereign state, and this is a reminder of the Cold War," Nikolai Cherginets, head of a Belarus parliamentary commission on international affairs, told the Interfax news agency.

President Bush has vowed to spread democracy worldwide.

Rice, who has called Belarus one of only six remaining "outposts of tyranny" worldwide, has said that while the United States cannot impose democracy on countries, the superpower can use its voice to boost democratic movements in authoritarian states and help foster political change.

Lavrov, who was speaking in English, carefully chose the phrase "regime change" to refer to the language Washington used on ousting veteran Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

In the runup to the Iraq war, Moscow aligned itself with Paris and Berlin in opposition to the U.S. aim of "regime change" in Baghdad.

"I think the democratic process and the process of reform cannot be imposed from outside," Lavrov said of Belarus.

(Additional reporting by Darius James Ross)

Source:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8252734