“One of the most important results of the meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is that we received confirmation of a dialogue between the USA and Russia on the Belarusian situation,” Svetlana Kalinkina, editor of the private newspaper Narodnaya Volya.

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The presidents of Russia and Belarus are meeting in Moscow a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for political change in Minsk.

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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meeting in Lithuania on Thursday, clashed over what should or should not happen in neighboring Belarus. Rice calls Belarus "the last dictatorship in the heart of Europe" and promotes democratic change there. Lavrov, without directly disagreeing, cautioned that "the process of reform cannot be imposed from outside."

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The Belarusian law-enforcing agencies have carried out another loud arrest. At about 1 p.m. former MP of the Supreme Soviet of the 13th convocation, former Prisoner of conscience Andrei Klimov was arrested. He is famous by the action organized by him on March 25 in Minsk and was called “Belarusian revolution”. The Belarusian authorities determined the actions of Klimov as organizing mass riots, which is violating the Article 342 of the Criminal Code. According to the information from Klimov’s team, he will be charged with infringing this article.

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Ukrainian civil campaign “PORA” proposes ban entry into Ukraine for Alyaksandr Lukashenka and high officials of his administration. The reason for that are the statements of the head of Belarus, who called the Orange Revolution “banditism, under a disguise of democracy”.

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Members of the GUUAM organization are prepared to assist Belarus in promoting democratic reforms, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said at the GUUAM summit in Chisinau on Friday.

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Two activists of "Zubr" movement - Natalia Ushko and Alena Kopach were arrested during distribution of independent newspaper “Vybar”. They are kept in Soviet district police station of Minsk now. It’s unknown what happens there now: the detained girls don’t answer the telephone calls. Girls were detained in the school number 19 of Minsk. Director assistant Ludmila Onifer, which noticed the girls and immediately called the police.

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At the session on Thursday the US Senate unanimously approved the law on new additional outlays of the US Federal budget for the current commercial year, in particular, envisaging allotting $5 millions for the programs of democracy support in Belarus.

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On April 22 in the night three participants of the meeting with the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Vilnius were subject to thorough customs examination at the border, told one of the participants of the meeting, a renowned lawyer Harry Pahanyajla.

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Alyaksandr Lukashenka sees positive and negative sides to the statement of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, he told to journalists on April 22 upon his arrival in Moscow. “I do not have any attitude either towards her or towards her remarks,” said Belarusian president. “However, like in any other process, there both positive and negative aspects in that. “It`s good that she knows that there is such a country as Belarus. Maybe she even imagines where it is located. She was recently flying above us, and she must have seen that there are no terrorists there, that everything is normal here”. “Another positive thing is that she has started to learn our language. She certainly has some difficulties with the cases, but if she takes pains, she would assimilate it,” Lukashenka added.

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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lent political support Thursday to Belarus opposition members aiming to oust President Alexander Lukashenko. During her three-day trip to Moscow and Lithuania, Rice took aim at the leadership of Belarus, a former Soviet republic that is now an independent country. On Thursday, Rice met with members of the opposition on the sideline of a NATO foreign ministers` meeting in Vilnius. "We think the road to democracy in Belarus, while it may seem difficult and, at times, even far away, there will be a road to democracy in Belarus," she told the group.

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The USA support the forces that “seek freedom and democracy” in Belarus, told press secretary of the White House Mr. Scott McClellan during the briefing, ITAR-TASS informs. As said by him, Belarus is the “one nation in the region that has not moved in the direction of many others”.

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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for Belarus to ensure next year’s presidential election in the former Soviet state is free and fair, while also defending the rights of dissidents to hold protests. Speaking after meeting a group of Belarus dissidents on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in neighbouring Lithuania, she said next year’s poll offers "an excellent opportunity" to focus on the need for credible elections. Ms Rice said Belarus could not hide from the international spotlight. "We admire your courage and we admire your dedication," she said.

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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (search) focused the international spotlight Thursday on a former Soviet satellite state where dissidents are fighting for democratic reforms. Some observers believe Belarus is poised to follow Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan in a popular uprising.

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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union has urged the U.S. Congress and European Union states to stop putting pressure on Belarus and to develop cooperation with the nation`s leadership.

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Sergei Kostyan, deputy chairman of the international affairs committee in the National Assembly’s House of Representatives, lashed out at the United States for renewing its criticism of Aleksandr Lukashenko’s government.

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The Belarusian Ministry of Justice has set a new deadline for political parties to relocate their chapters from residential to office buildings. Now the parties have until June 1 to relocate their cells. The previous deadline was February 1, 2005. None of the country’s parties managed to fulfill the relocation requirement, with many receiving official warnings.

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