Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov curtly told the United States to stay out of Russia's business Wednesday after U.S. criticism, echoed by the European Union, of President Vladimir Putin's plans for drastic changes that will boost Kremlin power.

Putin, citing the need for reforms to tackle terrorism, said Monday that he wants to nominate regional leaders himself in the future and called for changes to the electoral system that will effectively stop the rise of a strong parliamentary opposition.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that the changes were "pulling back on some of the democratic reforms" and pledged to raise his concerns with the Kremlin.

But Lavrov, speaking in Astana, Kazakhstan, on the sidelines of a meeting of former Soviet republics, said Washington has no right to impose its model of democracy on others.

"The processes that are underway in Russia are our internal affair," Lavrov said.

"And it is at least strange that -- while talking about a certain 'pulling back,' as he put it, on some of the democratic reforms in Russia -- he tried to assert yet again the notion that democracy can only be copied from someone's model," Lavrov said of Powell.

The United States itself was forced to take tough and controversial security steps after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. targets, he said.

"We, for our part, do not comment on the U.S. system of presidential elections," he added, in a reference to U.S. President George W. Bush's controversial win in 2000.

The Astana meeting is to discuss a joint approach to fighting terrorism Thursday.

Powell expressed sympathy for the Kremlin drive against terrorism after the Beslan attack by Chechen rebels in which more than 330 people were killed, half of them children. But he called for "a proper balance" to keep democratic reforms on course.

Powell's criticism swiftly found an echo from the 25-nation EU, Russia's biggest single trading partner.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said Wednesday that a resolution to the Chechen conflict lay in "far-sighted, humane and resolute" policies rather than moves limiting democracy.

"I hope they [the solutions] are forthcoming and that the government of the Russian Federation will not conclude that the only answer to terrorism is to increase the power of the Kremlin," Patten told the European Parliament.

The school siege was the last of a wave of attacks that were apparently carried out by Chechen separatists. These included the downing of two passenger planes on Aug. 24 that killed 90 people and a suicide bomb attack near a Moscow metro station a week later that killed nine.

Putin on Monday proposed an end to the direct election of regional governors and republic presidents, and said candidates should instead be put forward by the president and approved by local assemblies.

He also called for ending the election of State Duma deputies in constituencies, a common means for opposition politicians to win seats.

Critics say the changes violate the spirit of the Constitution and that Putin is exploiting the Beslan bloodshed to roll back democratic gains.

In Prague, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage expressed concern at signs that Moscow had become "a little bit more secretive" about its strategy for fighting terrorism.

But he also backed the Kremlin's view that there were no shades of gray between terrorist groups.

"Terrorism from our point of view and I think from the Russian Federation's point of view -- you cannot pick and choose among terrorist groups. A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist," Armitage told reporters Wednesday.

Ivan Safranchuk, head of the Moscow office of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information, said Russia's foreign policy establishment is overreacting to what seems to be a benign desire from the United States and the EU to learn more about Putin's plans.

Safranchuk noted that the United States and the EU have not formulated or passed any official judgment on the planned changes.

"The U.S. and the EU are asking questions, and these questions are not asked in a tough form," he said. "They are showing interest and asking for additional information rather than expressing concern.

"Russia would also be interested if Bush decided to cancel the elections of governors," he said.

Source: Moscow Times