Belarus no threat to Poland, but strengthening ties with Russia - Foreign Minister


Belarus is not carrying a threat to Poland, Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey told journalists of the polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

“I’ve heard from that our Polish colleagues that a scenario of an attack on the neighboring Western states is repeatedly exercised during [joint Belarus-Russia] war games. I spoke to the representatives of our Defense Ministry. Such scenarios were never rehearsed, they say.

Yes, we carry out joint military exercises with armies of Russia and other CSTO countries. But I would like you to know that Belarus is the only country where there has not been a single armed conflict after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

We have no one from the neighboring countries, especially to anyone from distant countries no – no territorial or other claims. We do not want to participate in armed conflicts. Our Constitution prohibits the participation of our armed forces in military operations abroad. I want you to remember that any danger or threat to a neighboring state will never come from the territory of Belarus.

Just a few of days ago, the president of Belarus said: “We will come to Ukraine. But we will not go by tank, we will go there by tractor”. [i.e. Belarus will sell tractors to Ukraine – Belsat]. This is our principled stance. I assure you that Belarus’ territory is not carrying any threat to Poland.”

At the same time, Makey stressed that Belarus would strengthen its ties with Russia.

“In the current situation, amid the global economic crisis, we have come to understand that in order to minimize such influence [Belarus’ dependence on Russia – Belsat] we need to have good economic, trade, political and other relations with all the countries. This does not mean that we are going to break our relations with Russia. On the contrary, we will preserve these ties and, perhaps, strengthen them,” news agency BelTA quotes the minister as saying.

belsat.eu 

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