Kremlin expects early start of intra-Belarus dialogue

MOSCOW - Russia expects the reconciliatory national dialogue over a constitutional reform in Belarus to start soon, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"We proceed from the statement of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that dialogue with the public will begin in the near future to discuss the constitutional reform," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily briefing.

"This will be dialogue with those who are within the legal framework," he stressed.

Russia will not talk to the self-proclaimed coordination council of the Belarus opposition, as the Belarusian constitutional court has declared this body illegal and unconstitutional, Peskov said.

Belarus has been witnessing mass protests after incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in the Aug. 9 elections, with the opposition refusing to recognize the results.