Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has assured that Moscow is not going to beg the West to lift the sanctions at a meeting in Minsk.
"The sanctions are not our choice but we are not going to beg the West to lift them. However, they keep implying that sanctions will be lifted when they tell us what to do,” the Russian Minister claimed at the press conference after the meeting for the collegiums of the Russian and Belarusian Ministries of Foreign Affairs.
“Sober-minded people have started speaking in the European Union and they are urging to make conclusions based on mistakes,” he noted. However, he did not specify whom he meant.
Our country has been affected by sanctions for several years, Belarusian Minister for Foreign Affairs Uladzimir Makei said. There is nothing catastrophic about it, he noted: “It is necessary to reconfigure relations, it requires an adequate reaction and realization of balanced solutions.” Belarus would like… Russia to join the Eastern Partnership despite the sanctions, he added.
"Belarus will keep promoting the idea that Russia should also be involved in the initiative and should participate in regional projects,” Uladzimir Makei explained.
The Ministers also discussed the future celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and work with compatriots abroad.
Besides Makei, Sergey Lavrov met President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The Belarusian leader sent ‘words of support’ to Russian President Valadimir Putin. “As far as I can see, his schedule is very intense now in the problematic region in the East and physically - distance wise,” the Belarusian President said. It is hard to disagree with it if you recall the reasons why Putin left the G20 summit in Australian Brisbane earlier than intended.
