Russia supports Belarus elections

Russia has dismissed international criticism of parliamentary elections in Belarus on Sunday as an attempt to justify the West's policy of isolating the republic.

A Foreign Ministry statement said individual reports of irregularities should not cast doubt on the overall results of the elections.

It said Moscow believed the best way to improve democracy in Belarus was to involve all the political forces in the country in a constructive dialogue, and not through an international blockade.

The European security organisation, the OSCE criticised the elections as fundamentally flawed and the United States has dismissed the results as invalid.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service