Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 24 May (BelTA) – Nikolai Bordyuzha who served as CSTO Secretary General in 2003-2017 has praised Belarus’ efforts to tackle the difficult situation in Eastern Europe. He made this statement as he spoke at the Minsk Dialogue Forum on 24 May, BelTA has learned.

“Once again Belarus has taken over responsibility for arranging work to find a way out of a very complicated situation in Eastern Europe,” Nikolai Bordyuzha noted. He pointed out that it is not the first time that Minsk has served as a venue to address complicated foreign policy issues, including the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and Donbas.

Nikolai Bordyuzha is convinced that in order to ease tensions in Eastern Europe, “all parties concerned should demonstrate a true political will”. He emphasized that it is impossible to reverse the situation in Eastern Europe using force or supremacy.

The international forum “Eastern Europe: In Search of Security for All” is taking place in Minsk on 23-25 May. It has been organized by the expert initiative Minsk Dialogue. The forum is expected to launch an open and large-scale dialogue between leading experts from Eastern Europe, the European Union, Russia, the USA, and China on an annual basis. Minsk provides a brand new platform for discussions about the present and the future of regional and international security.

Taking part in this forum are 350 experts and officials from more than 40 countries. The speakers include OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy James Appathurai, former CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha, Director General of the Permanent International Secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea States Maira Mora, and former Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Christine Muttonen.