Opinions & Interviews

FM: Russia never forced constitutional reform on Belarus

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MINSK, 15 February (BelTA) – Russia has never presented an ultimatum to Belarus to carry out a constitutional reform, Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview with the RBC media group, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian foreign minister answered the question whether Russia insisted on constitutional reform and early election in Belarus in order to settle the domestic conflict. “Never. President Lukashenko informed us about his Sochi negotiations with the Russian president that took place some time ago, and I have met with my counterpart Sergei Lavrov many times. The Russian side has never issued an ultimatum pushing for a constitutional reform, some changes and so on and so forth. They keep saying that this is up to Belarusian people to decide. And we appreciate this stance,” the minister said.

According to him, what happened in Belarus in the second half of last year is beginning to unfold in Russia as well. “The technologies are practically the same. Therefore, we believe that we need to stick together, but we have never experienced a situation when one side tried to interfere in the domestic affairs of the other side. We appreciate this, we know that Russia conveys the same message in their contacts with Europeans and Americans. We are grateful to our partners for this,” Vladimir Makei said.

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