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MINSK, 10 June (BelTA) – There is no sincerity in the statements of the Ukrainian regime about the need to achieve peace, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel, BelTA informs.
The foreign minister emphasized that Belarus, as a very fraternal state to both Russian and Ukrainian people, has always called for a peaceful settlement of the existing conflict. For the same reason, the republic has stood ready to host peace talks. Holding peace talks in a country that has many years of close historical, cultural and religious ties with the parties to the conflict would create a favorable background for engaging in dialogue and resolving acute issues.
“But you know what happened. The negotiations stopped in their tracks after they barely began. I mean February - March 2022. The Western curators did not give the Ukrainian side the opportunity to proceed with these negotiations and to reach a peace deal, and three years later we have what we have. We in Belarus see and feel that Russia is ready for peace talks, for resolving issues at any moment during this conflict. And in fact, if all this had happened in February, the situation with resources, territories and, most importantly, with people would have been completely different. But the West does not feel sorry for Ukraine and does not feel sorry for Ukrainians either,” the Belarusian diplomat said.
According to him, Ukraine is now taking part in the negotiations only for tactical reasons. It wants to test the waters and to see whether Russia is ready for peace or wants to continue the conflict.
“I have this gut feeling that the Ukrainian regime does not sincerely want peace (I don’t conflate the Ukrainian regime and the people). The regime derives political and economic dividends from this; the immense wealth of some people is at stake. And besides, the main cheerleaders of this entire massacre live across the Belarusian border, on the other side of the Bug River, and these people need this conflict to drag on. They are trying to weaken Russia with the hands of Ukraine. They are trying to solve their economic issues by disrupting normal, win-win partnerships that the Russian Federation once had with the European Union, both with the entire union and with its individual member states,” said Maksim Ryzhenkov.
The minister went on saying that some countries of the European Union are driven by revanchism. For example, the so-called Baltic ‘tigers’. The minister believes that the Baltic countries are ready for anything, even the most absurd steps, just to be among those who will defeat Russia. Other countries are afraid to challenge Russia, so they are trying to crush it. There is also a factor of personal enrichment on the part of a certain elite, the diplomat believes.
“All pieces come together. And so far it does not look like the main cheerleaders of the conflict have come to realize that it would be a good idea to stop, that they have achieved their goals, that is, they have weakened Russia enough, they have dealt with Ukraine, got their hands on all resources, padded their pockets and there is not much left to be done, so they might switch attention from Russia to some other regions, and leave the conflicting parties to sort out the mess they created, which might take decades. The bottomline is that it does not look like they are ready for peace,” said Maksim Ryzhenkov.
The foreign minister emphasized that Belarus, as a very fraternal state to both Russian and Ukrainian people, has always called for a peaceful settlement of the existing conflict. For the same reason, the republic has stood ready to host peace talks. Holding peace talks in a country that has many years of close historical, cultural and religious ties with the parties to the conflict would create a favorable background for engaging in dialogue and resolving acute issues.
“But you know what happened. The negotiations stopped in their tracks after they barely began. I mean February - March 2022. The Western curators did not give the Ukrainian side the opportunity to proceed with these negotiations and to reach a peace deal, and three years later we have what we have. We in Belarus see and feel that Russia is ready for peace talks, for resolving issues at any moment during this conflict. And in fact, if all this had happened in February, the situation with resources, territories and, most importantly, with people would have been completely different. But the West does not feel sorry for Ukraine and does not feel sorry for Ukrainians either,” the Belarusian diplomat said.
According to him, Ukraine is now taking part in the negotiations only for tactical reasons. It wants to test the waters and to see whether Russia is ready for peace or wants to continue the conflict.
“I have this gut feeling that the Ukrainian regime does not sincerely want peace (I don’t conflate the Ukrainian regime and the people). The regime derives political and economic dividends from this; the immense wealth of some people is at stake. And besides, the main cheerleaders of this entire massacre live across the Belarusian border, on the other side of the Bug River, and these people need this conflict to drag on. They are trying to weaken Russia with the hands of Ukraine. They are trying to solve their economic issues by disrupting normal, win-win partnerships that the Russian Federation once had with the European Union, both with the entire union and with its individual member states,” said Maksim Ryzhenkov.
The minister went on saying that some countries of the European Union are driven by revanchism. For example, the so-called Baltic ‘tigers’. The minister believes that the Baltic countries are ready for anything, even the most absurd steps, just to be among those who will defeat Russia. Other countries are afraid to challenge Russia, so they are trying to crush it. There is also a factor of personal enrichment on the part of a certain elite, the diplomat believes.
“All pieces come together. And so far it does not look like the main cheerleaders of the conflict have come to realize that it would be a good idea to stop, that they have achieved their goals, that is, they have weakened Russia enough, they have dealt with Ukraine, got their hands on all resources, padded their pockets and there is not much left to be done, so they might switch attention from Russia to some other regions, and leave the conflicting parties to sort out the mess they created, which might take decades. The bottomline is that it does not look like they are ready for peace,” said Maksim Ryzhenkov.
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