MINSK, Belarus (AP):

Venezuela signed over three more oilfields to a joint venture with Belarus yesterday, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declaring that the two nations were strongly united in their resistance to ''US imperialism'' and Washington's ''lackeys.''

The fields were signed over after Chavez met President Alexander Lukashenko, the hard-line leader of the ex-Soviet state whom the United States has called Europe's last dictator.

The joint venture was established last year with Chavez promising to supply Belarus' oil needs for the next century as a sign of solidarity. Belarus relies on Russia for oil, but has troubled relations with Moscow.

The new fields will roughly triple the joint venture's capacity to 2 million tons of oil a year, Belarus' first deputy prime minister, Sergei Semashko, said at the signing.