MINSK, February 4. /TASS/. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said in a talk with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried that Belarus was holding drills with Russia over tension at the republic’s borders, Spokesman for Belarus’ Foreign Ministry Anatoly Glaz said on Friday.
"It was also specially emphasized in response to the US side’s interest that the scheduled military drills on the territory of our country, over which genuine hysteria has been unleashed in the West, were being held precisely due to the obvious escalation of tension near our borders," the spokesman said.
During the talk held at the US side’s initiative on February 3, the sides touched upon a broad range of issues, he added. As the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman pointed out, the US State Department communicated information on this talk in a one-sided way, which was already no surprise for Minsk.
"In this context, of course, and this was stressed by the minister, the claims of some military aggression being initiated from Belarusian territory against Ukraine simply look ludicrous," the spokesman stressed.
The sides discussed the situation in the region and Minsk informed the US official of its view while Donfried "voiced her concerns" and "expressed a traditional set of hackneyed phrases about human rights," he said.
Both sides also discussed the bilateral agenda, including Minsk’s vision of ways to get out of the current crisis in the Belarusian-US relations and internal political processes in the republic ahead of the constitutional referendum on February 27, the spokesman said.
"The minister clearly stated that our Western partners’ assessments of the situation in and around Belarus, unfortunately, continue to be based on false concepts and are still far from reality," the Belarusian diplomat stressed.