MINSK, 16 February (BelTA) - Belarus has been chosen for exemplary punishment, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said at a press conference in Minsk on 16 February, as he spoke about the sanctions and pressure from the West, BelTA has learned.
Talking about the year 2021, the minister said that Belarus had to spend most of the time and energy in the foreign political dimension to deal with the challenges and threats that directly affected the national interests. “We had to defend the sovereignty and independence of Belarus in the truest sense of the word,” he said.
According to the minister, the West has intensified its sanctions and does not even hide its goals. The West seeks to destabilize the social and political situation in the country, strangle its economy and deteriorate living standards for as many people as possible to force them make an attempt to overthrow the government. No one thinks what will happen next. “In today's geopolitical context, the achievement of certain priorities is very important, if not vital, for the European Union. The West has chosen Belarus as a country to be punished exemplarily in order to demonstrate its strength and geopolitical clout and teach others a lesson,” said Vladimir Makei. In his words, for some reason Brussels believes that if it fails the Belarusian case it will lose face. So it is willing to sacrifice the long-term interests of both the Europeans and the Belarusians. “It is already clear that these attempts have failed and these goals will never be achieved,” the minister stressed.
Moreover, in many respects, this pressure has helped Belarusian enterprises to become more mobile, flexible and to diversify and increase their exports. "We have allies, partners, national interests, and we will not allow Belarus to be treated without respect," Vladimir Makei said.
Belarus has come under the unprecedented pressure in the media as well. "Opponents did not shy away from anything," the minister said. This phenomenon was dubbed as "information terrorism" by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "Disinformation and speculations are used as a formal reason for demonizing our country, imposing illegal restrictive measures against it," the minister said and cited several illustrative examples: the incident with the Rynair aircraft (the recent ICAO report cites not objective data for whipping up the hysteria against Belarus), the migrant crisis on the border or the Union State exercises Zapad 2021, which was also described by some destructive forces as a possible invasion threat to one of the neighboring countries.
