Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 2 April (BelTA) – Belarus does not intend to make friends against anyone and pursues a multi-vector policy, Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Igor Petrishenko said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

“Our wonderful piece of native land stands still and does not shift anywhere. We do have neighbors in the West, East, North, and South. We need to be friends with all of them, and not against anyone, because this is a road to nowhere. By the way, Russia is following its own multi-vector foreign policy. We are happy when Russia expands cooperation with different countries. Sometimes unnecessary rumor has it that we are shifting somewhere else, but this is absolutely wrong, which has been underlined in the mass media and at the highest level multiple times. At least, we do not have any claims in respect of the Russian authorities. Our head of state emphasized many times that we are not going to make friends against Russia when we were to say whether we are with the West or the East,” the ambassador highlighted.

In his words, both Belarus and Russia are interested in an active dialogue with the European Union and other countries. “By the way, Russia has signed a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement before the creation of the Union State. We do not have such an agreement. Your level of cooperation with the EU even amid sanctions is higher than ours, although they have ended some sanctions,” Igor Petrishenko stressed.

“We have been fulfilling our obligations with Russia to the letter. This is our vector and our strategy adopted at a nationwide referendum,” the diplomat said.

He continued to speak about ethnic and language matters. “We, Belarusians, have truly established ourselves as a nation, just like the people of Russia. There are two official languages in our country. We do try to actively develop Belarusian, but there is nothing wrong with speaking Russian. I believe that we should not be following those who try to put us against one another and disrupt our fraternal relations,” the ambassador underlined.