Events

“The major players show no readiness to look for a solution together. In fact, we are observing a war of nerves. There is only one thing worse than that: a return to a sort of block confrontation. It is evident that Belarus would be one of those caught in the middle of this confrontation. This is why we are very interested in preventing such developments,” the Belarusian foreign minister noted.

Vladimir Makei stressed that economic security is closely linked to military and political affairs. “The situation is this regard, unfortunately, is not very optimistic. When explaining what is going on, we sometimes even have to use the Cold War terminology. We still have not managed to establish a truly mutually beneficial cooperation between the East and the West, and learn to perceive one another as equal partners, rather than as potential adversaries. There is an evident degradation of certain international security mechanisms and escalation of tensions both in our immediate neighborhood and around the world in general,” the minister said.

Vladimir Makei pointed out that there is a military build-up in Europe that is occurring under the most plausible pretexts and with a predictable rhetoric from all sides. The modern challenges and threats, which include terrorism, drug trafficking, and illegal migration, are growing. Cyberspace is viewed as a potential, and in some cases, a real theater of military operations.

The minister noted that some time ago, the Belarusian head of state put forward the idea of launching a new negotiation format similar to the Helsinki Process, to establish a new large-scale dialogue between the East and the West. “We have no other option in this situation. Anyway, we will realize the need for this idea sooner or later,” Vladimir Makei emphasized.