MINSK, 6 May (BelTA) – The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not view the incident with the Belarusian national ice hockey team in Paris as settled, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Mironchik said as he commented on France's statement regarding the protest of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in view of the incident that took place in Paris on 3 May.
“Belarus does not feel satisfied with the explanations provided by the French side. The notice we have received can be viewed as nothing but a formal written reply which includes no information, apart from general declarations, that could explain the reason behind such actions of the French authorities so that the Belarusian side could agree with it,” the spokesman said.
In his words, France's treatment of the Belarusian national ice hockey team and the official protest of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot be described other than as disregard. “We can not agree with a blatant attempt to declare that everything done by the French authorities a priori complies with the international rules of ethics in sports and the code of conduct of the country hosting the Ice Hockey World Championship,” said Dmitry Mironchik.
According to him, the search of the Belarusian national team conducted by the French authorities revealed no prohibited substances. “This proves a completely groundless nature of the search that was conducted publicly and in heavy presence of law enforcement officers,” Dmitry Mironchik said.
“In this respect the Belarusian side cannot consider France's response to the protest of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as appropriate and the incident as settled. We expect the French side to apologize for the inadmissible treatment of the Belarusian athletes,” Dmitry Mironchik said.
