MINSK, January 28. /TASS/. Belarus is disappointed by the West's continued unfounded criticism of the country, often accompanied by threats of sanctions, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.
"It is with regret that we note the continuation of groundless criticism of Belarus by certain Western countries using cliched labels and sanctions threats," the ministry’s press service said when commenting on the joint EU statement, which describes the presidential election in the republic as a "sham."
The ministry emphasized that the European Union’s "statement deliberately twists the facts and does not take into account the objective reality in Belarus and in the world. Besides, this kind of rhetoric is used against the background of their own systemic problems, growing internal disunity and the degradation of the positions of the so-called ‘collective West’ on the international arena."
Such a position, as the experience of the past few decades has made clear, will not lead to anything but further deterioration of relations with Belarus, the foreign ministry warned. "In turn, their normalization could be beneficial, first of all, to the initiators of the statement in order to solve common problems in the European region and the world," the agency noted.
According to the ministry, the difference between the assessments of observers from more than 50 countries, including Western countries, who visited Belarus, and the pre-prepared labels of the EU is obvious. "Actually, under the influence of some of its co-signers, the [OSCE] ODIHR decided not to participate in the observation of the elections in Belarus," they believe.
Having made their choice, the Belarusians spoke in favor of continuing the path of building a strong and prosperous state, forming their own model of a modern democratic civil society that is in line with their history, traditions and mentality, the ministry stressed. "Continuation and build-up of the sanctions pressure, the deadlock and counterproductiveness of which has long been obvious, will not affect the course chosen by the people of Belarus," the foreign agency concluded.