U.S. Wants Belarus on G8 Agenda

The Moscow Times, Russia
April 20 2006

A senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday that the United States would
press for discussion of political developments in Belarus as well
as conflicts in Georgia, Moldova and Nagorno-Karabakh to be on the
agenda of this year’s Group of Eight summit, to be held in St.

Petersburg in July.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said it would be the first
time that the G8 had discussed “these … conflicts very close to
Russia’s borders” — underlining the stark political differences
between Russia and the other G8 members.

He said that most G8 members agreed that Belarus’ recent election,
which returned President Alexander Lukashenko to a third term, was
“anti-democratic,” and that the G8 should help the governments of
Georgia and Moldova resolve conflicts with their separatist provinces
— all of which enjoy support from Russia.

Russia and the United States are working together under the aegis
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to find a
resolution to the 18-year-old conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic
Armenian-inhabited enclave in Azerbaijan. They have both expressed
optimism that progress could be made this year.

U.S. President George W. Bush has said he will raise concerns about
Russian democracy during the summit.(AP)