MINSK, 17 February (BelTA) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus is disappointed by the decision of the Council of the EU to prolong the European Union's restrictive measures against Belarus for another year, Anatoly Glaz, Head of the Information and Digital Diplomacy Office, Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told BelTA.
“We are disappointed by the decision of the Council of the EU to maintain the restrictive measures of the European Union against Belarus for another year. We believe that these restrictions are an ungrounded throwback to the past and manifestation of political inertia in the EU's approaches to building a dialog with Belarus,” the spokesman said.
According to Anatoly Glaz, the Belarus-EU relations have advanced much more in recent years than in the previous decade of sanctions. “We are convinced that the EU itself is fully aware that the ritualistic prolongation of the restrictive measures against Belarus does not yield any positive results,” he added.
Belarus again calls on the European Union to drop the sanction-related cliches that impede a normal dialog and cooperation in the bilateral format and joint efforts to combat common threats in our region.
“We remain committed to building truly good neighborly and partner relations with the European Union, including in some sensitive matters. We call on the EU to keep expanding the political dialog with Belarus, including in the context of pragmatic regional cooperation. We hope that in the near future the relations between Belarus and Europe will be absolutely free from discrimination,” the foreign ministry representative said.
