MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. The latest developments around Belarus and Russia prove that there are single information warfare centers that are aimed against the two countries, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said at a press conference following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday.
"I would like to point out that the latest developments around Belarus and Russia prove that there are single information warfare centers that are aimed against the two countries. Our foreign ill-wishers have long started to see us as a real Union State, given our unity and solidarity. That said, we are grateful for the assistance Russia has provided to us recently, particularly in the information field. Many of Russia’s federal and regional media platforms stood up for Belarus. As far as the [Ryanair] plane incident is concerned, they only cited facts and demonstrated high professional standards," Makei pointed out.
Belarusian Foreign Minister also said that "Russia remains the key partner of Belarus, and the relations between both states continue to develop actively."
"I would like to stress once again that the Russian Federation was and remains the key partner of the Republic of Belarus. Despite all the objective difficulties, the Belarusian-Russian relations continue developing. Maintaining traditional formats of cooperation during the pandemic is especially valuable," Makei said.
He added that the parties discussed free movement of citizens between both states, noting that "a lot has been done" to achieve that. "However, we need to move forward, and there is such an understanding, we should raise the intensity of air and railway services to reach the pre-pandemic level," he said. Makei also stated that the countries should ease border restrictions for citizens traveling by car.
The Belarusian top diplomat stressed the importance of increased turnover between both states. "I am pleased to note the 18% increase of mutual turnover in the first four months of this year compared to January-April of last year," he said. "The active increase of turnover, the conclusion of work on integration programs in specific spheres of economic cooperation - all this makes our countries stronger, forms a united economic platform of the Union State, improves the people’s well-being.".
On May 23, a Vilnius-bound Ryanair flight that took off from Athens was forced to make an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital of Minsk after a reported bomb threat. The bomb threat came up empty after the aircraft had landed. The news came later that Roman Protasevich, wanted in Belarus as a co-founder of the Nexta Telegram channel, which the Belarusian authorities recognized as extremist, had been among the flight’s passengers, accompanied by Russian national Sofia Sapega. They were both detained by Belarusian law enforcement agents.
Following the incident, the European Union barred Belarusian air companies from using the European Union’s airports and airspace and banned European air carriers from using Belarusian airspace.