Mikhail Marynich: “Latvia has taken unprincipled attitude towards Lukashenka’s dictatorship”

The Latvian prime minister’s spokesman, Edgars Vaikulis, told BelaPAN in connection with the recent secret meeting of Prime Ministers of Belarus and Latvia that Brussels gave consent to Ivars Godmanis’ meeting with his Belarusian counterpart last month.

Edgars Vaikulis stated: “Considering cautious positions of the EU in issues of cooperation with Belarus”, the meeting of the two Prime Ministers at the border of the two countries “could not be but agreed with Brussels”.

As we have informed, on July 11 Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis held talks with his Belarusian counterpart Syarhei Sidorski at the checkpoint at the Latvian territory. However, since 1997 a ban for meetings with Belarusian officials higher than deputy minister level was imposed. It should be noted that the official Belarusian sources informed about the meeting of the prime ministers on July 14, and Latvian Prime Minister told about it to journalists on August 4.

As said by Mr. Vaikulis, the talks focused on ways to expand cooperation in freight transportation and electricity supplies. Latvia may face an electricity shortage after the closure of Lithuania’s Ignalina nuclear power plant and “is interested in electricity from Belarus,” he said, adding that it was yet early to speak about any agreements on the matter.

Mr. Vaikulis said that the meeting had been necessitated by the problem, which is important not only for Latvia but for the EU in general. “If we can put forward a solution to the region’s problems, in which the EU is interested, then the ban on meetings with Belarusian officials interferes with the settlement of the European Union’s internal problems,” the spokesman stressed.

Commenting on the issue of the support of Brussels’ position on limiting cooperation with Belarus by Riga, Mr. Vaikulis noted that the fact of the meeting itself demonstrates that Latvia is interested in economic cooperation with Belarus.

The Charter’97 press-centre has asked a former Belarusian Ambassador to Latvia, Estonia and Finland, a former political prisoner, one of the leaders of the “European Belarus” campaign Mikhail Marynich to comment the policy of Latvian leadership.

“I think that in reality it shows unprincipled attitude towards Lukashenka’s dictatorship of high-ranking officials in Latvia, and in all Baltic states. The position of these countries which are members of the EU should be unambiguous: everything should be agreed upon with the democratic community of Belarus. Not economic interests, but the 12 requirements of the European Union should be a priority. I do not think that the EU is such a weak organisation that should go on a leash of the dictatorship which is going anything in order not to carry out negotiations with the democratic forces, and on the contrary, steps up repression and crackdown on opposition inside the country,” Mikhail Marynich said to the charter’97 press-centre.