Russia blasts US over UN Belarus remarks

MOSCOW, Dec 13 (Reuters) Russia, enraged by Washington's attack on its ally Belarus in the UN Security Council, accused the United States today of breaking rules and using the United Nations as a stage for its domestic politics.

Russia disrupted talks on Iran's nuclear ambitions in the UN Security Council yesterday after US envoy William Brencick raised a hunger strike by a jailed opposition politician in Belarus at the council's session.

Brencick, referring to a hunger strike by Belarus opposition leader Alexander Kozulin, told colleagues in the 15-member council they should keep an eye on the lack of freedom of expression in the authoritarian ex-Soviet state.

''We consider this step by the US side as an attempt to turn the Security Council into a ground for discussing topics dictated by domestic interests of the United States,'' the Russian Foreign ministry's press department said in a statement Western countries regularly accuse President Alexander Lukashenko, described by the United States as ''Europe's last dictator'' but largely popular at home, of suppressing freedoms and cracking down on opposition.

The statement posted on the ministry web site www.mid.ru did not expand on what Moscow saw behind Brencick's remarks.

But it clearly referred to suggestions by many Russian politicians that U.S. President George W. Bush, whose popularity is falling, could use the popular topic of defending democracy around the world to boost ratings at home.

Accusations against the United States of trying to export a US pattern of democracy around the world are increasingly popular among Russian politicians alarmed by new rifts in relations between the two countries.

The ministry statement said the United States broke the Security Council rules by raising the Belarus issue at the session despite a protest by the Russian envoy and then briefing journalists on the incident.

''Attention of the US ambassador in Moscow has been drawn to this abnormal situation,'' the statement said. ''A hope was expressed that the US delegation will refrain in future of using such methods in its work in the UN Security Council.'' Kozulin, jailed for 5-1/2 years for his role in organising rallies protesting against Lukashenko's re-election in March, ended earlier this week a 53-day hunger strike intended to draw international attention to Belarus.

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