Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed in a statement that Belarus is cancelling their participation in the Eastern Partnership Summit in Warsaw due to political discrimination against Belarusian delegation.
“In the run-up to the Eastern Partnership Summit its organizers undertook unprecedented discriminatory steps with regard to Belarus. They refused to send an invitation to the Head of the Belarusian State. After that the Head of the Belarusian delegation designated by the Republic of Belarus was restricted in attending the events of the Summit” – it was written in the official statement.
Belarusian MFA called these events “a blatant violation of the basic principles of the Eastern Partnership agreed upon at its first summit in Prague in 2009”. Furthermore, the statement targets the legitimacy of the summit where Belarus is absent: “By their actions the organizers of the Summit undermine the validity of this regional initiative and bear responsibility for that. The decisions of the Summit affecting the interests of the Republic of Belarus and adopted without a direct consent of our country will not be legitimate.”
The host of the summit, the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs – Radoslaw Sikorski, invited his Belarusian counterpart – Sierkhey Martynaw, but Mr. Martynaw turned down the invitation, sending instead the Belarusian ambassador in Poland.
A delegation of Belarusian opposition and relatives of political prisoners was present at the summit. They met with German chancellor Angela Merkel. Mr. Sikorski, during a separate meeting with the dissidents, criticized harshly president Lukashenka. He said that Europe will treat Lukashenka is a same way he is treating people in his own country.
Belsat
