MINSK, 12 July (BelTA) – Belarus will continue to cooperate with the non-for-profit organizations that operate for benefit of the state and society, Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview with RT TV channel, BelTA has learned.
According to Vladimir Makei, the events that took place in Belarus last year were the result of the activity of some highly efficient non-governmental organizations that worked in the country. He noted that it took Russia more than 20 years to take off rose-colored glasses and understand clearly that "the Anglo-Saxons are not going to let this great state into the elite club of world powers as their peer, with an equal voting right."
“As for Belarus, I must say that we have cooperated and continue to cooperate with a number of non-governmental organizations, including foreign ones, which bring concrete benefits to the state and society. For example, we are actively working with such organizations on security issues," the minister noted. “There are a number of non-governmental organizations that are implementing a number of useful projects in the field of ecology, environmental protection, housing and utility services, culture, education, healthcare. We are not planning to severe cooperation with these organizations."
However, there are certain organizations that have tried to get a foothold in Belarus under a plausible pretext, but for destructive purposes, Vladimir Makei added. “Uncovering such organizations is another matter. It is a very important task, primarily, for special services. I must admit that the post-election situation was in a certain respect a result of underperformance of our special services who overlooked the activities of such destructive organizations that tried to stage a coup in Belarus. We have created an efficient system to monitor activities of such organizations and to control their financing. Last year's events taught us to be even more vigilant about these things,” he explained.
Belarus also made legislative steps to curb activities of such destructive organizations, Vladimir Makei pointed out. Certain restrictions for such structures were introduced in response to the Western sanctions. “We decided to close a number of foreign NGOs operating in Belarus, including various political funds, party funds, and some NGOs, for example, those of Germany and the United States. From now on, we intend to monitor carefully the activities of foreign NGOs in Belarus. I would like to reiterate that we will continue working with NGOs that operate for the benefit of the state and the society,” he noted.
