(MINSK) - Belarussian security services on Thursday raided the offices and homes of journalists working for media funded by the European Union and the United States, officials and journalists said.

The independent Association of Belarussian Journalists said the raids on 16 journalists, mainly from broadcast media, were aimed at clamping down on criticism of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.

But the foreign ministry said that the security services were investigating Belarussian journalists working "illegally" for foreign media because they did not have the required accreditation to work in Belarus.

"We are talking about certain private individuals of Belarussian citizenship who have long been illegally involved in journalistic activity on foreign money," Maria Vanshina, a ministry spokeswoman, told AFP.

"The illegal character of the activities of the aforementioned individuals in Belarus was not hidden by their foreign masters, who often talked about it in the press," Vanshina continued.

Computers and cameras were seized during the raids and journalists were called in for questioning by the KGB security service, which has retained its Soviet-era name in this authoritarian former Soviet republic.

The media targeted included Radio Svoboda, which is funded by the US Congress, and European Radio for Belarus, which was set up in 2005 and is financed by the European Commission.

The premises of Radio Racja, which is financed by Polish private investors, and from Belsat, a television station which broadcasts in Belarussian from Poland, were also searched.

The KGB also raided the offices of non-governmental organisations and opposition youth groups, whose members are often detained by security services for protesting against the country's regime.

Belarus is considered the "last dictatorship in Europe" by Washington.

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