U.S. CITIZEN PLEADS GUILTY IN BELARUS DRUGS CASE

MINSK, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A U.S. citizen arrested on drugs charges in
Belarus has pleaded guilty to smoking marijuana but denied other charges,
state television reported on Wednesday.

"I admit partial guilt. I bought, kept and smoked marijuana," Charles
Perriello said in a televised excerpt of the trial, which started on
Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty to charges of selling drugs to others.

Perriello was working in former Soviet Belarus as part of a U.S.
government-funded humanitarian group running projects aimed at students and
schoolchildren to promote freedom, according to the Belarussian security
service KGB which arrested him in June.

His case comes at a time of deteriorating relations between the United
States and Belarus, an isolated state on Russia's western border.

The United States said on Tuesday it doubted that the country's upcoming
presidential election would be free or fair. It accuses incumbent President
Alexander Lukashenko, seeking re-election on September 9, of undermining
democracy.

If found guilty of all the charges against him, Perriello could be
imprisoned for up to 10 years.

Belarus expelled another U.S. citizen, trade unionist Robert Fielding, at
the weekend. The KGB said he had been "canvassing" for Belarus opposition
leader Vladimir Goncharik, which it considered interference in the
country's internal affairs.