Maksim Ryzhenkov
MOSCOW, 10 June (BelTA) - The Baltic states have nothing to be proud of, which is the reason for their aggressive rhetoric against Belarus and Russia, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov told the media in Moscow on 10 June, BelTA has learned.
“As for the Baltic states, if we remove their aggressive rhetoric against Belarus and Russia, will you find anything about them in the media? They will simply vanish from the media landscape. Do they have an impressive track record of economic development? No. Do they make progress on important peaceful or development-oriented international initiatives? No. They have fallen out with all foreign policy and economic centers of power, including Russia, China and other states,” Maksim Ryzhenkov stated.
According to the minister, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia cannot boast of any development in their countries either. “We see the degradation of infrastructure, significant demographic problems, the collapse of the economy. They have nothing to say about themselves at all,” the minister said.
In 1940 some 1.7 million people lived in Latvia (before the country joined the USSR), Maksim Ryzhenkov said. During the time of “occupation”, as they call it in Latvia, the country’s population grew to 2.7 million. During 30 years of “democratization” that followed the population fell to the level of 1940. It is worth mentioning that many Latvian citizens live in other EU countries.
“The fact that we are able to develop (we place people at the heart of the country's development), and they see everything falling apart in their countries, with no programs leading to the prosperity of the states (and even worse: in some 30-40 years no one will remember the Latvian language, except historians), makes them accumulate this anger even more,” the minister said.
With their aggressive rhetoric, the Baltic states want to show the European Union that they are an outpost on its eastern borders, the minister added.
“They lost a huge amount of money after they had decided not to cooperate with us. Someone has to bear responsibility for that. How can they explain to their citizens that years of such confrontation with us were years of missed opportunities, which led to degradation and leaving these countries on the outskirts of the European Union? Considering the fence they are building here, they are already on the outskirts of civilization,” Maksim Ryzhenkov said. “When nothing works, when all arguments have been used, the only thing left is to scream your heads off. This is exactly what they are doing.”
“As for the Baltic states, if we remove their aggressive rhetoric against Belarus and Russia, will you find anything about them in the media? They will simply vanish from the media landscape. Do they have an impressive track record of economic development? No. Do they make progress on important peaceful or development-oriented international initiatives? No. They have fallen out with all foreign policy and economic centers of power, including Russia, China and other states,” Maksim Ryzhenkov stated.
According to the minister, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia cannot boast of any development in their countries either. “We see the degradation of infrastructure, significant demographic problems, the collapse of the economy. They have nothing to say about themselves at all,” the minister said.
In 1940 some 1.7 million people lived in Latvia (before the country joined the USSR), Maksim Ryzhenkov said. During the time of “occupation”, as they call it in Latvia, the country’s population grew to 2.7 million. During 30 years of “democratization” that followed the population fell to the level of 1940. It is worth mentioning that many Latvian citizens live in other EU countries.
“The fact that we are able to develop (we place people at the heart of the country's development), and they see everything falling apart in their countries, with no programs leading to the prosperity of the states (and even worse: in some 30-40 years no one will remember the Latvian language, except historians), makes them accumulate this anger even more,” the minister said.
With their aggressive rhetoric, the Baltic states want to show the European Union that they are an outpost on its eastern borders, the minister added.
“They lost a huge amount of money after they had decided not to cooperate with us. Someone has to bear responsibility for that. How can they explain to their citizens that years of such confrontation with us were years of missed opportunities, which led to degradation and leaving these countries on the outskirts of the European Union? Considering the fence they are building here, they are already on the outskirts of civilization,” Maksim Ryzhenkov said. “When nothing works, when all arguments have been used, the only thing left is to scream your heads off. This is exactly what they are doing.”
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