The prime ministers of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan have come out with a joint statement condemning attempts at exerting economic pressure on Belarus.
"Acting in the spirit of the common approach that was agreed upon by the heads of state of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, and given the repeated statements by the United States and the European Union about the possibility of imposing economic restrictions on one of the member states of the Customs Union/Common Economic Zone, the governments of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation reaffirm the inadmissibility of the use of measures of economic pressure or compulsion", says the statement, posted on the website of the Government of Russia on March 11.
Such measures "create artificial barriers to trade and unfounded obstacles to economic cooperation between economic entities in the territory of the Customs Union/Common Economic Zone, and infringe on the legitimate economic security interests of the states, which is fraught with damaging consequences for fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation and for the development of integration processes on the Eurasian continent, and will above all affect ordinary people", the statement says.
The governments of the three countries "are convinced that only a respectful dialogue between equals will help settle differences, and advocate abandoning any moves that can impede such a dialogue", the statement said.
