MOLODECHNO, Belarus, October 1 (Itar-Tass) — Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has thanked his country’s partners in the Eastern Partnership, who opposed the anti-Belarusian resolution at the summit in Warsaw.
"I thank my partners, friends and counterparts for the tremendous support even in our absence. The Belarussians will reciprocate," Lukashenko told reporters on Friday, commenting on the Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw. He said "27 EU member states tried to make our friends, five republics, follow in their footsteps. Nothing happened. None of them supported the resolution, and it failed," said Lukashenko. He expressed special thanks to the presidents of Azerbaijan and Georgia, who "were the most active people who supported us in Europe."
The Belarussian president said that at Friday's summit, "we witnessed an attempt to apply certain instructive sanctions to us: look, we invite all at this level, and Belarus will be invited at a different one," said Lukashenko. He recalled that the Belarussian ambassador in Warsaw was asked to act as the head of the delegation at the summit.
"They had not expected that, they thought we would keep knocking on the door, crying and asking for something," said Lukashenko. About the ambassador it was stated that it was a wrong level.
"They tried to humiliate him, then we refused to participate in the summit at all. Then they made this statement on behalf of other countries," said Lukashenko. He pointed out that Armenia, Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan refused to support the resolution. Lukashenko said the EU then used arm-twisting against the Eastern Partnership member-countries. A number of countries, he said, actively supported Belarus, saying that the Europeans were wrong in their mode of behavior in relation to Belarus." I am very grateful to the Baltic States, Bulgaria and the others who deep down in their soul and openly support Belarus," said Lukashenko.