MINSK, 31 August (BelTA) - Latvia's actions are beyond comprehension, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said as it commented on the decision of the Latvian government to unilaterally withdraw from the intergovernmental agreement on the basic principles of cross-border cooperation of 1998, BelTA has learned.
"Apparently, the course chosen by Latvian politicians to deliberately whip up hysteria in relations with the neighbors in the context of the election campaign coupled with the traditional desire to always be at the forefront of the pan-European mainstream, make them take actions that are beyond our understanding. First of all, we are talking about Latvia's fight against the sacred memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the barbaric destruction of monuments, the expulsion of its own citizens for an alternative opinion, purposeful discrimination of the Russian language, draconian fines for watching news TV channels," the Belarusian ministry said.
In light of all these, the initiative to withdraw from international agreements with Belarus did not become something unexpected, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “The punishing sword of the Latvian bureaucracy has already fallen on such ‘security threatening' areas of cooperation as service dog breeding, statistics, forensics, agriculture. Now it is the turn of cross-border cooperation and interaction in the energy sector."
"Such unmotivated actions of the Latvian authorities are only regrettable, especially since the agreement on cross-border cooperation provided for the development of contacts between local authorities in areas of mutual interest, i.e. absolutely pragmatic things in the interests of the peoples of the two countries. We are well aware that this step by the official Riga in the manner of ‘bite its nose off to spite its face' is largely aimed at distracting Latvian citizens from the snowballing socio-economic problems at home," the ministry said.
The ministry has no doubt that the period of confrontation will end, that the agreements will be restored and new ones will be concluded. In Latvia this time will be remembered as a time of missed opportunities for mutually respectful cooperation with a friendly neighboring country.
