MINSK, September 2. /TASS/. Belarus has picked a candidacy for an ambassador to the US but will not send him to Washington due to US sanctions, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said Thursday.
"The relations with the US are always relevant for us, just as with any other state. We have been working on the candidacy for an ambassador to the US. Moreover, I will tell you that we have this candidacy. But, in the current circumstances, naturally, there is no point to send our ambassador to the US because of the sanction actions, undertaken by this state towards Belarus," the Foreign Minister said.
Makei noted that it was not Belarus who initiated the problems in the US-Belarusian relations.
"It was the US who imposed sanctions against Belarus. We were forced to provide an adequate response to the aggressive steps taken towards Belarus," the Minister explained. "In these circumstances, we, of course, did not find it possible to have such an ambassador as Mrs. [Julie] Fisher in Belarus, and we recalled our agreement. Because, even before she arrived to our country, she made so many insulting statements towards Belarus and its people that her stay here would not be appropriate," Makei said.
According to the Minister, Minsk watches "how some US embassy in Belarus employees behave."
"Look at the [US embassy] website. This is not a website of a foreign mission that should analyze the situation in the country, improve the relations between the states, which is what diplomacy is supposed to do. This is some propaganda leaflet against the current authority. How should we treat it?" Makei said. "These are totally hostile actions towards Belarus. It has nothing to do with the strengthening of sovereignty and independence as our US partners try to tell us all the time.".