MOSCOW, May 17. /TASS/. Western countries are doing great harm to themselves with their sanctions policy, Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergey Aleinik said on Wednesday.

"Western partners are unwilling to listen to us and continue to pursue a policy that, ironically, damages them and is also harmful to the entire world. In fact, it is a policy of arm-twisting. It includes illegal sanctions pressure, attempts to throw wood on the military fire in the heart of Europe and never-before-seen international lawlessness that we see today," he pointed out at a joint press conference with Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

Aleinik emphasized that Minsk had always consistently called for an equal dialogue in international relations based on mutual respect.