English

Minsk condemns «Solidarity with Belarus» conference in Warsaw as event of «openly provocative nature»

 

The February 2 international conference of donors on the theme of “Solidarity with Belarus,” which took place in Warsaw and was hosted by the Polish foreign ministry, was of an “openly provocative nature,” the spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, Andrey Savinykh, said in a statement.

The conference was held for the purpose of supporting “certain marginal groups in Belarus that are not supported by Belarusian society,” the spokesman said.

According to him, the event cannot be called a “conference for Belarus,” as it was held in the absence of “legitimate representatives of Belarus and without taking into consideration the official position of the country.”

“The policy of artificially growing civil society from the outside and out of touch with the dialogue with the legitimate government is an ill-starred and dangerous policy,” Mr. Savinykh said. “The lessons of such social experiments obviously suggest that they can only lead to chaos and destabilization, and reveal the irresponsibility of their organizers. Such actions directly and unequivocally contravene international law standards and the UN Charter.”

Mr. Savinykh pointed out that the conference had been organized hastily and defiantly, which he said suggested that the organizers wanted to use the current situation as a tool to “advance their own political ambitions” without care for the “preservation of good-neighborly relations between our countries.”

Minsk believes that the organizers of the conference also intended to make the maximum use of available financial resources “in the interests of their own ideological and propaganda institutions,” Mr. Savinykh noted.

The "Solidarity with Belarus" conference was called in response to Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s crackdown on his opponents in the wake of his reelection as president, which is disputed by opposition forces and the West.

Attending the conference were some 200 delegates from 36 countries, including all 27 EU members, Canada, the United States, EU candidates Croatia and Macedonia, plus ex-Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as a large delegation of Belarusian opposition activists.

Speaking at the conference Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski pledged Europe's continuing support to the people of Belarus and said that he had a clear message for Mr. Lukashenka: "President Lukashenka, you are losing. Nobody believes in the declared election result of 80 percent voter support for you. Your methods have no place in modern Europe. Sooner or later you will have to flee your own country, your own people. Soon a jet plane will have to be kept on standby in Minsk."

"The Belarusians deserve reasonable governance by reasonable people,” Mr. Sikorski said. “You are in Europe and you have Europe's support... and we are here to increase our support."

Stefan Fule, the EU’s commissioner for enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, said that the European Commission would quadruple its support for Belarus’ civil society to €15.6 million ($21.6 million) this year.

Apart from the European Commission, other donors are also expected to provide financial support and expert assistance. In particular, Poland has doubled its support for Belarus’ civil society organizations and independent media this year, earmarking €10.7 million for this purpose. //BelaРАN