MINSK, 4 February (BelTA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed details of a recent conversation between Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei and Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried, BelTA has learned.
Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Glaz said: “Yes, indeed, such a conversation took place yesterday upon the initiative of the American side. The fact of the matter is that quite a broad range of matters were touched upon although the U.S. Department of State's slanted presentation of the information about the content of the conversation is totally no longer surprising.”
Anatoly Glaz said that the sides discussed primarily the current situation in the region. “Our vision of the ongoing processes was conveyed to the American side, they shared their concerns. In this context, certainly – and the minister emphasized it – speculations about some enterprising military aggression from Belarus' territory against Ukraine are simply laughable. Honestly speaking, any Belarusian probably understands that such falsehoods can exist essentially only in the heads of bad strategists and analysts, who are very far from our region,” the press secretary said.
“Due to the interest of the American side it was emphasized that the scheduled army exercise, which sees so much hysterics in the West, has been arranged precisely due to the obvious fomenting of tensions near our borders,” Anatoly Glaz said.
The conversation touched upon the bilateral agenda, including Minsk's vision of ways out of the current situation in Belarus-USA relations, and domestic political processes in Belarus ahead of the constitutional referendum.
“Karen Donfried also pronounced the traditional choice of clichйs regarding human rights. Vladimir Makei expressly stated that regretfully our Western partners continue evaluating the situation inside and around Belarus on the basis of false messages and the evaluations are still detached from reality,” the press secretary said.
