MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. Moscow and Minsk are unanimous the introduction of unilateral sanctions runs counter to international law and undermines trust on the world scene, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said ahead of a joint meeting of the Russian and Belarussian foreign ministries’ boards.
"Another issue on the agenda of today’s session is our Western counterparts, in the first place, the United States and the European Union, employ illegitimate instruments of unilateral sanctions in violation of the UN Charter," he said. "This practice seriously undermines trust and mutual understanding on the international scene."
Lavrov pointed out that in discussing acute problems and negative phenomena on the international scene, which breed great tensions on multilateral platforms and in bilateral relations with third countries, Russia and Belarus invariably "press for unification and not estrangement and always opt for not negative scenarios, but for developing and identifying constructive solutions that make it possible to overcome these processes, which have adverse effects on the state of affairs in our common region and in international affairs in general.".