MOSCOW, 27 May (BelTA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called to stop demonizing Belarus in connection with the Ryanair incident, BelTA has learned.
"I want to reiterate what Moscow has repeatedly stated: we insist that demonizing campaigns against those people who are not liked by the West be stopped. The Belarusian authorities have clearly stated from the very first minutes after this incident that they are ready for transparency, for an open investigation, that they are willing to host experts, to provide all information and necessary materials, and they have already unilaterally disseminated some of this information," Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Gabonese Foreign Minister Pacome Moubelet-Boubeya in Moscow on 27 May.
“Our Western colleagues, especially the Baltic countries, behave inappropriately by diplomatic standards and, probably, by human standards too,” the Russian foreign minister said. “They announced sanctions out loud. They vocally demand an independent international investigation, ignoring the fact that it was something that the Belarusian authorities proposed straight away. While demanding an investigation, they hurried to announce the so-called punishment. Well, many of our Western colleagues have demonstrated such manners in other occasions too."
