NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 16 May (BelTA) – Belarus is taking part in debates among candidates for the position of a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2024-2025 period, BelTA has learned.
Belarus and Slovenia are engaged in the debates. Belarus is represented by the country's permanent representative in the UN Valentin Rybakov while Slovenia is represented by the country's permanent representative in the UN Bostjan Malovrh.
Valentin Rybakov has previously commented on Slovenia's nomination for the UN Security Council non-permanent membership. The Belarusian diplomat made his remarks at a session of the UN Security Council on 17 February 2023: “As everyone is well aware, in 2007 Belarus placed its bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2024-2025 term. The election will be held on 8 June 2023. For 15 years Belarus had been the only candidate from the Eastern European Group. On 9 December 2021 Slovenia filed a bid for the same position, although in 2017 it had already submitted its bid for the 2042-2043 term in the group. I hope you all understand perfectly well that this is not a sovereign decision of Slovenia. We have no grievances against Slovenia in this regard. But the political motivation of such an anti-Belarusian step is clear to absolutely everyone, I think.”
The Belarusian diplomat stressed: “Are we afraid of losing the election since we understand the full scale of the anti-Belarusian campaign? No, we aren't. If we lose, we will do so with dignity. We are grateful to those countries that have already expressed their support for us. I can assure you that if Belarus is elected to the Security Council, we will pursue a principled, independent, responsible and honest policy.”
Back then Valentin Rybakov remarked that Belarus is often accused of being a co-aggressor. “Those ‘peace-loving' countries that pump Ukraine full of lethal weapons have the audacity to accuse us. They do everything so that as many people as possible would continue dying as long as possible,” he remarked.
