RICE VISIT: US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has used the first major Nato meeting on former Soviet territory to urge the people of Belarus to oppose president Alexander Lukashenko, a Russian ally whom she accused of being Europe's last dictator.
Yesterday's strident remarks from Dr Rice, made after a gathering of Nato's 26 foreign ministers in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, will further strain US relations with a Kremlin that is irked by Washington's burgeoning interest in ex-Soviet republics.
Coming amid lingering Russian resentment over alleged US support for peaceful revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, and after Kyrgyzstan's leader was toppled last month, Dr Rice's remarks overshadowed Nato assertions of a growing relationship with Moscow.
Dr Rice met seven democracy activists from Belarus, which Mr Lukashenko has led into diplomatic isolation during 11 years in power, and urged them to unite against a man who is accused of emasculating political opposition and free media and ordering the imprisonment and murder of his critics.
"You are in our thoughts," she told them after a meeting that was also attended by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "We admire your courage and we admire your dedication. While it may seem difficult and long, and at times far way, there will be a road to democracy in Belarus."
Mr Solana added: "There is no doubt that the time has come for change. I have said that many, many, many years ago."
After the meeting, the activists said Dr Rice had suggested an action plan to finally oust Mr Lukashenko, a former communist collective farm boss whom she accused this week of running "the last true dictatorship in the centre of Europe". "She said the United States and Europe remained committed to helping the Belarus society become free," said Alexander Dobrovokskiy, deputy chairman of Belarus' United Civic Party.
He said Dr Rice had urged them to focus their efforts on creating independent media, promoting political and civil action, building a national movement for change, and selecting a good candidate to oppose Mr Lukashenko in elections scheduled for next year.
In a later press briefing, Dr Rice placed the emphasis on challenging Mr Lukashenko at the ballot box in 2006.
"The international community ought to be prepared and ready to help Belarus to carry out free and fair elections in 2006," she said.
"What we can do together is to shine a spotlight on places where people are still denied freedom. This is not a dark corner in which things can go on unobserved, uncommented upon and as if Belarus were somehow not a part of the European continent."
The Belarussians, acting on what they called encouragement from Washington's top diplomat, announced plans for mass demonstrations in the autumn to protest at the disappearance of up to 30 opponents of Mr Lukashenko.
"We know that our elections have not been elections for a long time," said Mr Dobrovokskiy. "We intend to present an alternative and initiate mass pressure for change."
Ms Rice's gambit drew an immediate response from Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who also met the assembled Nato foreign ministers.
"We think the democratic process, the process of reform, cannot be imposed from outside," he said, adding that Moscow did not back "regime changes" anywhere.
