Andrei Sannikov: «Threat comes only from Russia»

Not the US, as Belarusian Prime Minister Syargei Sidorski said, but Russia threatens the security of Belarus.

Prime Minister of Belarus Syargei Sidorski said on the session of the Council of Ministers of the “union state” in Moscow, the US violated guarantees of Belarus’ security, it had obtained after removal of nuclear power from the territory of the republic, by imposing sanctions against the Belarusian regime. Andrei Sannikov, former deputy minister of international affairs, international coordinator of Charter’97, commented statement of the PM.

– The US doesn’t threaten Belarus. On the contrary, all those talks about annexing Belarus to Russia, even variants Belarus will be annexed as 6 areas, demonstrate that the real threat to independence of the country comes from Russia. If Belarus is being pressed, it is being pressed by Russia again, which had supported the regime of Lukashenka for a long time, depriving Belarusian people of right for choice, and is putting pressure on this regime now to receive economic and political advantages. The imposed by the US measures against Belarusian regime were taken as the response to outrageous and numerous violations of the international obligations by the Belarusian authorities in the frames of the OSCE, in the frames of international covenants on civil and political rights. That’s why they should be regarded not as measures against Belarusian people, but as retaliatory steps towards acts of the authorities, which violate fundamental human rights and freedoms, persecute people for their views, put them to prisons on politically motivated grounds,” Andrei Sannikov thinks.