The Belarus political situation and many other issues divided the alliance and Russia in Friday's informal discussions, said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

"There are many items and issues on which we think the same. But there are also issues -- they also were discussed, where we definitely do not see eye to eye," he told a press conference after a NATO-Russia foreign ministerial meeting.

On Belarus, he said, the 26 NATO member countries and Russia were "far apart."

Both De Hoop Scheffer and the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday condemned the arrest of the Belarusian opposition leader Alexander Milinkevic.

De Hoop Scheffer said the detention was unacceptable and another demonstration of "anti-democratic behavior on the part of the regime (of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko)."

Rice described the arrest as "reprehensible" and asked the Belarusian government to act in accordance with accepted international principles when it came to the treatment of political opposition.

In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said dialogue and engagement should be the approach to problems in Belarus, not isolation.

"We said (to NATO) isolation was counter-productive," he said.

De Hoop Scheffer and Lavrov held separate press conferences after the NATO-Russia informal meeting, in sharp contrast to the media treatment of the NATO-Ukraine meeting where the NATO secretary general and Ukraine's foreign minister held a cordial joint press conference.

Lavrov said the cornerstone of Russia-NATO cooperation was compliance with standards of international law and recognition of the primary role of the UN Security Council.

He hoped that the United States, which leads NATO, would exercise caution in its plans to station troops in Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO members.

"We hope the final decision will respect the alliance's legal undertakings of restraint and also will take into account the legitimate interests and concerns of the Russian Federation," he told reporters.

Lavrov said Washington and Romania had assured Russia they would not deploy "substantial military forces" in new NATO member states.

He said Russia had yet to seek answers from NATO regarding what "substantial forces" means.

On NATO's initiative to forge closer partnerships with Asia-Pacific countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, Lavrov demanded transparency from NATO so that Russia knows exactly what is going on and does not have security fears.

The two sides, however, did agree on cooperating to jointly fight narcotics in Afghanistan.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2006)