MINSK, February 10. /TASS/. Attempts to sever brotherly ties between the Russian and Belarusian peoples are futile, Russian Ambassador to Minsk Alexander Surikov told TASS on Friday.
"Some politicians in the world like to see relations between Russia and Belarus cooling off. This is a well-paid job," he said. "Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are a good example of that. It’s all about isolation of Russia, about weakening it by means of severing its ties with the former brotherly countries."
"Obviously, a great number of politicians, states and blocs want to weaken Russia, in particular, through severing Belarus off it, through breaking their union," the Russian diplomat noted. "And it is a paid job for various media, first of all non-government ones, to fan emotions around this topic, often under obscure statements."
Belarus, in his words, is a European country and it would only benefit from normal relations with the West. "And we would also benefit [from such relations] as now they are not quite normal," Surikov said, adding that some media are alleging that whereas Russia’s relations with the West are strained Belarus is leaning towards the West.
"So far, attempts at severing the brotherly union of Russia and Belarus are futile," he stressed. "It was determined by history that these two nations are the closest on the entire planet. However such attempts never stop."
According to the Russian ambassador, diplomatic relations between the two countries have not been impacted by any critical publications. "There have been some critical words - some people cannot control their tongues. But, speaking strategically, diplomatic relations have felt no serious impacts," he underscored.