Meeting with Rice confirmed fact of US-Russian dialogue on Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

“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.

Ms. Kalinkina was commenting to BelaPAN the day after the meeting of Belarusian opposition leaders with Ms. Rice in Vilnius on April 21.

“Our politicians and public figures repeatedly stressed during visits to Washington and Europe that a coordinated action of the USA, the European Union and Russia could change the situation in Belarus,” the editor said.
“The politicians were given assurances that that the Belarusian issue will be raised with high diplomatic circles. But until recently, no one could say for sure that the issue had been raised. Now we are sure that the issue was discussed at the top level.”

According to Ms. Kalinkina, the US secretary of state told Russian officials that they should not fear of democratization of former Soviet Union republics, that the regimes that discredited themselves should go because they damage Russia’s reputation and that democratic countries are more predictable and reliable partners for Russia.

The editor noted that Ms. Rice had said nothing about the Russian leaders’ reaction to her statements on Belarus. “But she said she had an impression that her position met with an understanding of the Russian leadership.”