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Lukashenka wants to become friends with Sweden again

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Lukashenka wants to become friends with Sweden again

The dictator tries to restore “ the full-format cooperation with Sweden” that worsened after the teddy bear row.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka said it when receiving credentials from Swedish ambassador Martin Åberg, BelTA reports.

“Belarus has always advocated a well-balanced, positive and pragmatic dialogue with all countries,” he said.

According to him, Sweden plays an important role in regional and subregional processes in Northern Europe. “Its voice is counted in the European Union,” Lukashenka noted. “We have never denied the fact that we can learn a lot from Sweden.”

Martin Åberg has been working in Minsk as Chargé d'Affaires ad Interim of Sweden to Belarus since July 2013. He was appointed Ambassador in April 2015.

The diplomatic crisis between Belarus and Sweden arose in 2012 after a light plane with a Swedish crew had illegally flown across the Lithuanian-Belarusian border on July 4 and dropped hundreds of teddy bears with free speech messages.

The Belarusian authorities refused to admit the fact in the beginning despite photos and videos. Lukashenka punished high-ranking army officers only three weeks after the incident.

The authorities of Belarus recalled the full embassy staff from Sweden in August 2012. Sweden was proposed to do the same.

In 2013, Belarus agreed to accredit Sweden's Chargé d'Affaires ad Interim in Minsk. The Belarusian authorities allowed to increase the diplomatic staff of the Swedish embassy in Minsk a year later.

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