Belarusian MFA blackmails West

• 9.04.2012, 10:51

Ambassadors of the EU countries may return only if new sanctions are not imposed.

This statement was made by the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs, Syarhei Martynau, on the air of Belarus-1 TV channel on Sunday, RIA Novosti reports.

“Belarus says: Do you want your ambassadors to come back? We don't mind. But of course, we wouldn't like them to be involved in behind-the-scenes machinations that harm our relations,” Martynau said.

“If ambassadors return and the European Union introduces another package of sanctions in a few days, it will not be serious, to put it mildly,” he added.

The head of the Belarusian MFA thinks the EU sanctions only hinder democratic reforms in Belarus.

“If not for the tough and unjust sanctions imposed in January 2011 after the presidential elections in December 2010, Belarus would have proceeded more along the path of inner perfection,” he said.

Belarus-EU relations aggravated sharply in February 2012, when the EU imposed news sanctions on Minsk in response to arrests of participants of the mass protests following the December 2010 presidential elections.

In late February, Minsk recalled its Permanent Representative to the EU and Ambassador in Poland in response to strengthening the EU sanctions. The head of the EU Delegation to Belarus and Polish Ambassador were recommended to leave for their capitals. In solidarity, other EU countries decided to recall their envoys from Minsk. In late March, the EU again extended the list of Belarusian officials and companies subject to sanctions.