In an interview with Washington Post, Foreign Minister Makey said that Belarus was not afraid of anyone’s military incursion, that she wanted to build friendly relations with all countries, and that she was feeling the pressure of sanctions. Amid the prolonged crisis in Russo-Ukrainian relations, Belarusian officials emphasize the indirect threat to Belarus’ independence from the Kremlin, which is connected with insufficient development of economic cooperation with Western countries because of the sanctions against the country’s leadership. The Belarusian authorities are attempting to portray Belarus as a bridge between Russia and the European Union in the Western media, thus increasing the value of the current leadership in the upcoming presidential campaign. The authorities anticipate the ‘limited recognition’ of the results of the presidential elections in 2015, but have no plans to make any concessions in terms of liberalization of the electoral campaign or ending persecution of the opponents.
