In an interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey relealed the country’s goals in developing relations with Russia and the European Union.
According to him, Belarus is located ‘on the breakline’ between the major geopolitical players whose confrontation affects Belarus.
“We see Russia as our main ally, our natural neighbour <…> During the latest global financial crisis, we learned from their own experience that еру dependence on one country is disastrous for our economy. Therefore, we would like to diversify our relations and consider the European Union as the second important economic partner. We would like to have good relations with the EU,” the newspaper quotes Makey.
At the same time, the Belarusian minister cautiously stressed that Minsk did not want to repeat the mistakes of Ukraine on the way to rapprochement with the EU. In his opinion, some obstacles on that way, for instance, the human rights issue, is nothing but ‘differences in worldviews’.
As reported earlier, during his long-awaited visit to a EU member state, the Belarusian delegation focused on raising investment and developing the economic cooperation. In turn, the Austrian side has repeatedly raised the questions of the death penalty abolition and human rights situation in Belarus.
