MOSCOW, 8 December (BelTA) – Russia supports Belarus in its efforts to counter Western sanctions that are aimed at triggering new protests in Belarus, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Pankin told RIA Novosti, BelTA informs.
“Russia supports Belarus in its efforts to resist Western pressure. We are pursuing a coordinated policy that includes response measures, joint ‘stop lists'; we are helping mitigate the negative social and economic consequences of restrictions for Belarusian citizens. We will continue our close cooperation with Minsk,” Alexander Pankin said.
“Just like our Belarusian allies, we absolutely reject illegitimate unilateral restrictive measures that are introduced by Western countries and the European Union in violation of international law and bypassing the UN Security Council. Unfortunately, this vicious practice is becoming increasingly common. Moreover, such restrictions are often used to get economic or political advantages, and they are in fact protectionist measures of unfair competition,” the diplomat said.
According to Alexander Pankin, one gets an impression that the West has lost a culture of political dialogue. “The partners have forgotten how to address problems in a civilized manner, at the negotiating table. Unilateral restrictions are often used as a response to any decision that does not fit their logic. In fact, these restrictions can be applied to any state pursuing a sovereign policy independently of the West,” the deputy minister noted.
The purpose of the Western sanctions against Belarus is to make Belarusian people poorer: “If we talk about Belarus, we understand very well that the purpose of the sanctions against Minsk is to deliberately make living standards of ordinary people much worse, to provoke a new wave of anti-government protests. How else can one explain the restrictions on entire sectors of the Belarusian industry, its largest enterprises that are the lifeline for hundreds of thousands of Belarusians?”
He also believes that the West is punishing Belarus for good relations with Russia. Alexander Pankin recalled that in December 2020, the U.S. Congress passed the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights and Sovereignty Act of 2020, which provides for the possibility of imposing sanctions against Russia and the Union State; and in October the European Parliament approved a resolution condemning Russia-Belarus integration. “How can you square it with the concern for democracy in Belarus that was declared by the initiators of the sanctions? It looks more like punishment for friendship with Russia,” the diplomat added.
