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Foreign ministry expresses concern about «anti-Belarusian campaign» in Poland

The Belarusian foreign ministry is concerned about the "anti-Belarusian campaign” that is being mounted in Poland, the spokesman for the ministry, Andrey Papow said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

This campaign may cause serious damage to the relationship between the two countries, the spokesman noted.

According to Mr. Papow, during his working visit to Warsaw on February 12, Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynaw clearly pointed out that the rights of national minorities in Belarus, including the rights of the Polish minority “are legally guaranteed and ensured in our country.”

The Belarusian government provides considerable support for the minority’s cultural and education activities on a permanent basis, Mr. Papow noted.

Polish media reports distort realities and facts and mislead politicians and the public in Poland, negatively affecting the general climate of the Belarusian-Polish relationship, he said.

Recent calls in Poland for imposing visa sanctions against Belarusian citizens and taking restrictive measures against Belarus in the economic and other spheres do not help remove the artificially created tension in the Belarusian-Polish relationship and run counter to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, which provides for the “inadmissibility of the use of economic sanctions for putting pressure on sovereign states,” Mr. Papow said.

“We are ready to undertake joint efforts to maintain the achieved level of and further develop the Belarusian-Polish relationship on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in the internal affairs of one another,” he said. “We are convinced that this would meet the interests of the peoples of our countries and contribute to stability on the European continent.” //BelaPAN