MINSK, 10 November (BelTA) - The European Union has no intention to organize a dialogue with Belarus, they only want to impose sanctions, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview to RIA Novosti, which was partially published on the official Twitter account of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BelTA has learned.
The minister emphasized that sanctions should not be a tool for solving any disputes or problems and should not be the main principle of the interstate policy.
“They [the European Union] keep telling us about the need to comply with the rule of law in our domestic policy and interstate relations, but they openly trample on this principle by imposing sanctions against Belarus without even trying to understand what is going on,” stressed Vladimir Makei.
The minister recalled the incident with the landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk: “We immediately offered: come, see what happened, read all the documents. No, after an hour and a half, all 27 EU countries issued statements and sanctions were imposed on Belavia. There was no attempt to deal with the situation objectively.”
“For example, Josep Borrell [EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy], before his trip to Moscow, made a clear statement: sanctions can be imposed, but there must be a channel for dialogue. But this is Russia, a great country. In respect to Belarus there are only sanctions, and no attempts to organize a dialogue. There is no intention to do so,” said Vladimir Makei.
