BELARUS AMBASSADOR: WEST FINANCES MOSCOW, MINSK UNSANCTIONED RALLIES

MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - Asked by newsmen Friday whether unsanctioned rallies in Moscow and Minsk were financed from the West, Vladimir Grigoriev, Belorussian ambassador in Moscow, answered in the affirmative. "This was a provocation to see government reaction. The reaction has proved to be what it should be."

Vladimir Grigoriev promised no "citrus revolutions" in Belarus, saying there were no prerequisites for revolutionary events.

"We shall sound out the situation by ourselves. We know what to do," he said.

Dealing with the unsanctioned rally in Minsk on April 26, Grigoriev drew attention to the fact that the 30 detained offenders were prevailingly foreigners: 14 Russian and 15 Ukrainian citizens.

"We did not violate law at the arrest-we were quite liberal with the participants in the unrest," he said.

Grigoriev's statement has probably something to do with the unsanctioned demonstration held last Thursday in front of the Belorussian embassy in Moscow. It was there that police detained YABLOKO Party militant Sergey Mitrokhin and three more pickets. Legal proceedings on charges of violating the established order of holding rallies have been instituted. The Basmanny Court is to consider the case in substance.