MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry disagrees with the European Union's assessment of democracy-related problems in Belarus, the ministry said Thursday.
"We know the EU's critical state of mind in regard to Belarus," the ministry statement said. "At the same time, we can't agree that Belarus is a problem zone in regard to democracy."
The ministry said any steps toward democracy in Belarus should take into account the local realities. "Imposing some universal schemes does not strengthen democracy or build a united Europe without dividing lines," the statement said.
Earlier in the week, an EU commissioner told a Moscow news conference that the EU could expand the range of measures against Belarus to include freezing its foreign bank accounts if the country's 2006 elections failed to meet international norms.
