MFA calls the West for negotiations again

At the same time Minsk advises Europe not to push Belarus with democratization.

“Each part has a list of claims. But the point is not that, but that they can be resolved only behind a negotiations table in a framework of constructive cooperation. I assume we should concentrate our attention exactly on that”, - the head of the information department/press-secretary of the Belarusian MFA Andrei Savinykh stated at a briefing in Minsk on Thursday, Interfax reports.

Commenting on the claims the Belarusian part can address to the West, which criticizes it, Savinykh singled out first of all “the notorious double standards for the assessment of the situation in our country”. “In this context the subjectivity of the judgments of the European countries is obvious and causes serious problems”, - he said.

According to him, “secondly, a systemic problem are the differences in the approaches towards civil society development in Belarus”. The MFA’s representative assures that “we completely agree with the European Union in understanding of the necessity of full-fledged civil society, democratic traditions and institutions formation”. At the same time in Minsk they call for Europe not to rush Belarus with democratization. “We can very well see that time is needed for that and favorable societal environment, based on trust and harmonization of interests of the main social groups – exactly that way the process went in the Western countries”, - Savinykh noted.

According to the MFA’s representative, in relation to that in Minsk they think that the West uses the issue of human rights “in order to put pressure on our country in their political and economic interests”.

“Thus, a trust problem evolves and it is very serious problem”, - Savinykh pointed out.

Also Savinykh stated that Belarus is not ready for liberalization of the border crossing with Poland.

“The policy applied by the Polish establishment in the bilateral relation creates rather unfavorable climate and we are not yet ready, unfortunately, to move in that direction”, - he said.