Belarus Reacts To Bush Remarks In Riga

8 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The Belarusian Foreign Ministry objected yesterday to U.S. President George W. Bush's statement that Belarus is, in Bush's words, "Europe's last dictatorship."

Bush met yesterday with the leaders of the Baltic nations in Latvia's capital Riga, where he repeated the phrase used earlier by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Belarus's Foreign Ministry said in its statement that the attitude of Bush and the Baltic leaders is contrary to principles of the United Nations and of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The statement also accuses the Baltic republics of interfering in Belarus's internal affairs.