Opinions & Interviews

Belarus’ ambassador: All countries in Europe have contributed to changing regional security system

Photo courtesy of Belarus' Embassy in Finland

MINSK, 7 April (BelTA) - All European countries have had a hand in changing the regional security system, Belarusian Ambassador to Finland Aleksei Samosuyev said in an interview to Helsingin Sanomat, the largest newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, BelTA has learned.

The interview touched upon issues of regional security, including the situation in Ukraine, the state of the Belarusian economy, normalization of relations with the European Union and work with the Belarusian civil society.

Aleksei Samosuyev, in particular, noted that all countries in the region, including Finland, which became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as neighbors of Belarus, such as Poland, intending to saturate the border areas with new military units, have now contributed to changing the security system.

The ambassador stressed that the direct participation of Belarusian troops in the special operation in Ukraine was not in the interests of either Belarus or Russia, which is strong enough to act independently. Answering the question about the increasing dependence of Belarus on Russia and China, Aleksei Samosuyev emphasized that it was more of interdependence, and no country in the world was free from it, including Finland, which is dependent, for example, on the EU - at least financially, and on the newly acquired NATO partners in security.

Mentioning the recent parliamentary elections in Finland, the ambassador emphasized that the main problem with international election practices in the OSCE area was the lack of uniform approaches and their inconsistent application, which gave rise to double standards for states in the western and eastern parts of the OSCE.

“Belarus has no objections to the normalization of relations with the EU and wants to be friends with economically strong neighbors, but at the moment the ball is on the EU side,” the head of the Belarusian diplomatic mission added.

According to Aleksei Samosuyev, no European country can consider people who receive foreign funding for political activities, call for the destruction of the national economy and international relations, as well as perform criminal acts as “civil society” and “opposition”: no one likes traitors.

“Therefore, it is not worthwhile to cooperate (and call us to do so) with persons with whom Finns would not like to deal in their own country,” the ambassador stressed.

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