MINSK, 26 February (BelTA) – The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the statement made by the official representative of the U.S. Department of State Matthew Miller regarding the single voting day in Belarus.
“We spent the whole night looking, together with the Central Election Commission of Belarus, for Mr Miller in the voters’ lists to determine which district commission we should address his complain. We didn't find him,” spokesman for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Glaz told the media.
“Then we held in-depth consultations with lawyers in an effort to understand what the U.S. Department of State has to do with the elections in our country. Nothing. After this, we turned to international law trying to find out whether the United States is entitled to assessing electoral process in independent states. International law does not give it such a right. Thus, from a legal point of view, we do not see a single reason why we should pay heed to the statements of the U.S. Department of State about the single voting day in the Republic of Belarus,” Anatoly Glaz noted with a bit of irony.
“We strongly recommend that the current U.S. administration start testing employee knowledge on the fundamentals of international relations and international law, of which the UN Charter is a part. International law clearly defines sovereignty, independence and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states,” Anatoly Glaz said.
Still, “for the sake of relieving excessive anxiety across the ocean”, Anatoly Glaz informed that the single voting day on 25 February 2024 was held under the protection and in full compliance with the Belarusian legislation, as it should be the case in a sovereign state.
“We have no objection if the elections in the United States, however strange they may seem to most countries, are held in full compliance with the U.S. legislation,” he noted.
As for diplomacy and foreign relations, which fall within the remit of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of State, Anatoly Glaz once again reaffirmed the country’s openness to an equal and mutually respectful dialogue with the United States.