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Foreign ministry expresses deep disappointment at EU sanctions

Minsk is deeply disappointed at the January 31 decision of the European Union’s Council, Andrey Savinykh, spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, said in a statement.

At their meeting in Brussels on Monday, the EU’s 27 foreign ministers decided that the bloc should impose asset freezes and travel bans on 158 Belarusian government officials and other individuals who are deemed involved in election frauds and a post-election crackdown on political opponents.

The EU Council’s January 31 Conclusions are based on the intentional ignoring of the fact that behaving aggressively and violently, protesters attempted to storm the House of Government on December 19, Mr. Saviniykh said.

“The selective and biased interpretation in the Council Conclusions of the findings of the international election observation in Belarus is meant to disregard the clearly expressed will of the Belarusian people,” the statement said.

“The logic behind the Council Conclusions paves the way to the EU’s direct interference in domestic affairs of a sovereign state. It undermines trust and inevitably leads to actions detrimental to the ambition of shaping a Europe free of dividing lines shared by both the East and the West of the continent,” Mr. Savinykh said.

“By creating artificial obstacles to interstate cooperation, the European Union deprives itself of the possibility to contribute in a constructive manner to social transformations in Belarus,” the statement said. “The outright attempt to justify the violation of law that a part of the opposition committed endangering public security appears in fact a promotion of lawlessness and extremism from abroad. This practice prevents public organizations from developing a responsible civic position based on national interests.”

“Tension in relations with the EU is not our choice,” Mr. Savinykh said. “Nevertheless, the Council Conclusions compel the Republic of Belarus to take proportionate and adequate measures with a view to strengthening national sovereignty, safeguarding stability and the cohesion of Belarusian society.”

“We call on the European Union to renounce its logic of confrontation and unwise attempts to destroy the constructive content of our relations that has no reasonable alternative and that we have been painstakingly shaping together,” Mr. Savinykh noted.

“We favor stronger partnership with the EU, an open, candid and respectful dialogue and equal cooperation without discrimination and double standards,” he said. //BelaPAN