Makei: western politicians size up the situation absolutely inadequately

The level of co-operation between Belarus and the collective West has noticeably decreased – not because of Belarus’ fault, but rather due to an inadequate perception of the country by the West. This was stated by Belarus’ Foreign Minister as he answered an Estonian TV journalist’s question during a press conference on the results of the Foreign Ministry’s political and economic activities in 2021.

According to Mr. Makei, Belarus has always declared that it is pursuing a multi-vector foreign policy. The principle remains unchanged and, as the Foreign Minister explained, it is fixed now and will be further envisaged in all documents related to Belarusian foreign policy activities. “We believe that this is absolutely feasible. We assume that vectors can also be diverse and of different scales. We have always told our partners in Russia that our desire to have normal relations with the western countries should not be viewed with suspicion,” he said, adding that the situation has changed by now.

“Unfortunately, we now have to state that the level of our co-operation with the European Union and the collective West as a whole has noticeably decreased. And for this we are not to blame. The imposed five packages of sanctions do not contribute to normal development of relations between Belarus and the West. We are not the party of fault. It seems to me that the problem lies in our western partners' inadequate assessment of what is happening inside and around Belarus. I get surprised when reading about a briefing of an anonymous representative of the US State Department or statements of the leadership of the neighbouring countries – Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. The western politicians have some kind of leaks in their brains; as a result, they absolutely inadequately size up the situation. This inadequate assessment is a result of miscalculations in their policy towards Belarus,” Mr. Makei said.

Belarus’ Foreign Minister emphasised, “Believe me, the problem is rooted not in us. We are ready for dialogue with all partners, including difficult ones. In general, these are the countries of the European Union for us – though not all of them. At the same time, it should be a mutually respectful, equitable and calm dialogue. At the moment, we observe no readiness on the part of our neighbours and a number of the EU countries in general for such an open dialogue.”