Belarus not to refuse from partnership with Russia for the sake of EU
"Belarus is not ready to refuse from a strategic partnership with Russia for the sake of building relations with the European Union", Andrei Yaroshkin, a deputy head of the foreign political analysis at Belarus's Foreign Ministry, said speaking at the Minsk Forum on November 14.
"Russia and Belarus are bound by alliance ties which are based on bilateral agreements. We intend to follow them", Yaroshkin said. He also stressed that preserving the independent of the republic remains "a cornerstone of our integration (with Russia)".
In the view of Yaroshkin, the question "Who should Belarus be with: Russia or the West?" is "far-fetched and speculative. "We also need normal relations with Europe, but we have no intention to develop one vector at the cost of the other", the official said.
At the same time, Yaroshkin noted that Belarus "is truly prepared" to develop relations with the European Union. "Belarus is a firm supporter of better relations but stands for the respect of the rights of the parties, for the mutual respect of interests and against the use of political, military or economic pressure in the international relations", he said.
"Of course, we have noticed that the changes in the efficiency of our relations with Europe occurred at the background of a certain cooling of relations between Moscow and Brussels", he noted. "However, I do not want to believe that the growth of tension in relations with Moscow has pushed forward our activities with the European Union. I admit that some politicians in the European Union take use of the need to balance between EU and Moscow in order to keep their face and change their position and to retreat from the police of isolation towards our country".
Responding to the questions of the forum participants, Jean-Erich Holzapfel, European Commission's Charge d'Affaires in Minsk, reminded that the EU had forwarded five proposals to the Belarusian government regarding the improvement of the situation in the country. Belarus has time up to April 2009 to fulfill them, when the European Union's Council will again consider the issue of sanctions against the Belarusian officials. "It will be interesting to see what the government has done in five months", Holzapfel said.
In return, Yaroshkin noted that it was not worth "to understand wrongly that Belarus has knocked on the EU's doors for a long time". "There is a mutual interest and any dialogue leads to progress", he said. "12 years were lost. We do not want to waste time. It should not be expected that all the issues would be resolved tomorrow or in five months. But let's expect positive things", Yaroshkin said.
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"Russia and Belarus are bound by alliance ties which are based on bilateral agreements. We intend to follow them", Yaroshkin said. He also stressed that preserving the independent of the republic remains "a cornerstone of our integration (with Russia)".
In the view of Yaroshkin, the question "Who should Belarus be with: Russia or the West?" is "far-fetched and speculative. "We also need normal relations with Europe, but we have no intention to develop one vector at the cost of the other", the official said.
At the same time, Yaroshkin noted that Belarus "is truly prepared" to develop relations with the European Union. "Belarus is a firm supporter of better relations but stands for the respect of the rights of the parties, for the mutual respect of interests and against the use of political, military or economic pressure in the international relations", he said.
"Of course, we have noticed that the changes in the efficiency of our relations with Europe occurred at the background of a certain cooling of relations between Moscow and Brussels", he noted. "However, I do not want to believe that the growth of tension in relations with Moscow has pushed forward our activities with the European Union. I admit that some politicians in the European Union take use of the need to balance between EU and Moscow in order to keep their face and change their position and to retreat from the police of isolation towards our country".
Responding to the questions of the forum participants, Jean-Erich Holzapfel, European Commission's Charge d'Affaires in Minsk, reminded that the EU had forwarded five proposals to the Belarusian government regarding the improvement of the situation in the country. Belarus has time up to April 2009 to fulfill them, when the European Union's Council will again consider the issue of sanctions against the Belarusian officials. "It will be interesting to see what the government has done in five months", Holzapfel said.
In return, Yaroshkin noted that it was not worth "to understand wrongly that Belarus has knocked on the EU's doors for a long time". "There is a mutual interest and any dialogue leads to progress", he said. "12 years were lost. We do not want to waste time. It should not be expected that all the issues would be resolved tomorrow or in five months. But let's expect positive things", Yaroshkin said.
Belapan
