Lavrov and Makei discuss “suffocation of Donbas” in Minsk

The Belarusian foreign minister said any sanctions would “backfire on those imposing them”.

“Unfortunately, we see that instead of establishing stable contacts [with Ukraine's east] Kyiv took a course on social and economic suffocating of Ukraine's southeast and threatens to resume solving the conflict by force,” Sergei Lavrov said at a joint meeting of the Russian and Belarusian MFAs in Minsk, Interfax reports.

According to him, “the EU's stance on the Ukrainian crisis, including “double standards”, attempts to shift the responsibility for the ongoing events on others and use sanctions, undermines trust and stability on our continent”.

“We hope the point of no return has not been passed. We continue to consider the European Union to be Russia's major important trade and economic partner. We are interested in the progressive development of cooperation on an equal and mutually beneficial basis,” Lavrov noted.

The Belarusian foreign minister said any sanctions would “backfire on those imposing them”.

“The EU begins to understand that we need to look for the common basis of interaction between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union,” Makei said.

Speaking about the European sanctions, the Belarusian foreign minister noted sanctions were an absolutely useless tool in foreign policy. “Sanctions lead to no good, let alone in our interdependent world,” he stressed.

According to Makei, any sanctions can “backfire on those imposing them”. “We want problems to be solved in a peaceful way through negotiations,” the Belarusian foreign minister said.

Photo: Belarusian MFA