MOSCOW, 10 February (BelTA) - An information war has been launched against Belarus and Russia in order to cause discord between the closest allies, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Rudenko said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, the text of which was published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 10 February, BelTA has learned.
According to the diplomat, Russia has always treated Belarus as a brotherly nation and is genuinely interested in its prosperity. “We stand in solidarity with all citizens of Belarus who advocate stable, progressive development of their country and who want all contradictions solved through constructive national dialogue. Unfortunately, a large-scale information war has been launched against both our countries, including for the purpose of sowing discord between the closest allies and friends. We are confident that the wise Belarusian people will sort out who their true friend and trusted ally is, who is ready to lend a hand in a difficult situation, and who is trying to use them in someone's dirty geopolitical games. We believe that the future of Belarus should be decided only by Belarusian citizens themselves,” he said.
“As for the dialogue with the self-proclaimed ‘leaders of the Belarusian opposition', who have comfortably settled in European capitals and who are almost on the payroll for their activities, they can hardly be seen as the true voice of all Belarusian people and advocates of their rights,” said the Russian deputy minister of foreign affairs.
When asked about the results of the presidential election in Belarus, Andrey Rudenko stated: “In its assessment Russia relied on the opinion of the international monitoring missions, which, unlike the OSCE/ODIHR, agreed to monitor the voting. The CIS mission alone involved more than 180 people, and their verdict was very telling: the election was well organized, without any obvious violations, and in accordance with the legislation of the country. Of course, there are shortcomings in any election campaign, including in the lauded Western democracies. It is worth recalling the mayhem during the recent presidential election in the United States.
