Duma Speaker censures attempts to "export democracy" to Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

There are no prerequisites for an "orange revolution" in Belarus, said Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the State Duma, Russia`s lower house of parliament. "Those seeking to stage something like the Orange Revolution in Belarus have been increasingly vocal as of late," Gryzlov said at Friday`s plenary session of the Russia-Belarus Union Parliament in the Belarusian city of Gomel.

The Duma Speaker criticized what he called "attempts to export democracy" to Belarus, saying they defied the international law.

"I can see no grounds for the materialization of these destructive ideas in Belarus, but we cannot ignore them. Especially now that we`ve seen how long the ripples sent by a wave of color revolutions could be," Gryzlov said.

He said the State Duma was planning to create legal conditions for regulating the activity of non-governmental organizations, which he said now have a lot of clout in Ukraine and other countries of the Former Soviet Union.

Gryzlov said that although he would not dispute the outcome of the Ukrainian elections, the way the guidelines along which the voting had been organized did not seem valid to him.

"We should present a united front to be able to prevent a split between Belarus and Russia and a forced regime change," Gryzlov said, stressing the importance of the two nations` coordinated efforts in the world arena.

Commenting on the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly`s criticisms of Minsk earlier this week, Gryzlov indicated that the Russia-Belarus Union Parliament might respond with a statement.

He said he does not expect any more of the former Soviet republics to join the European Union in the foreseeable future.

"For some of the countries, the speed at which the EU is moving has proved too fast. So it`s highly unlikely, at least in the near future, that the European Union will expand, including by [absorbing] CIS countries," he said.