Comment by the Foreign Ministry of Belarus on the joint statement by the EU and the acceding countries

It is with regret that we note the continuation of groundless criticism of Belarus by certain Western countries using cliched labels and sanctions threats.

The statement deliberately twists the facts and does not take into account the objective reality in Belarus and in the world. Besides, this kind of rhetoric is used against the background of their own systemic problems, growing internal disunity and the degradation of the positions of the so-called ‘collective West’ on the international arena.

This stance, as evidenced by the objective experience of the last decades, will lead to nothing but further degradation of relations with Belarus. In turn, their normalisation could be beneficial, first of all, to the initiators of the statement in order to solve common problems in the European region and the world.

There is an obvious difference between the assessments of observers from more than 50 countries, including Western countries, who visited Belarus, and the pre-prepared labels of the EU. Actually, under the influence of some of its co-signers, the ODIHR decided not to participate in the observation of the elections in Belarus.

The Belarusians, having made their choice, spoke in favour of continuing the path of building a strong and prosperous state and of forming their own model of a modern democratic civil society that is in line with our history, traditions and mentality.

Continuation and build-up of the sanctions pressure, the deadlock and counterproductiveness of which has long been obvious, will not affect the course chosen by the people of Belarus.

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