Ukraine's possible secession from the CIS is the sovereign right of this country, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.
“Speaking of declarations of the possible secession of Ukraine from
the CIS, this is definitely the sovereign right of each state. No one
disputes it and no one is going to. But it is easy to slam the door shut
in hot blood, especially as they seem to have a formal occasion: “You
did not come to Kyiv but we can do without you”,” Belarusian First
Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhnevich said. His answer to a media
question was published on the ministry website on Friday.
At the same time, Minsk expects Ukraine to be pragmatic in its
evaluation of all the pros and cons of this decision, Mikhnevich said.
“I am positive that Kyiv will plan its moves in a pragmatic way and
make a choice, which will be appreciated by businesses and average
citizens,” he noted.
“Yet even a perfunctory sober analysis of Ukraine’s membership in the
CIS displays a number of obvious advantages, such as trade issues,
economic relations as a whole and numerous cooperation formats in the
field of transport, energy, communications, anti-crime measures and so
on. Not to mention humanitarian contacts,” he said, adding that the
choice was up to the Ukrainian side.
Mikhnevich reaffirmed the preparedness of the Belarusian side to
attend a CIS meeting in a format approved by all member countries.
The deputy minister reminded reporters that Ukraine had initiated a
special meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers and Belarus did
not raise principled objections to the discussion of the Ukrainian
situation at the CIS.
“We were upset by the Ukrainian rejection of the meeting’s level as
unacceptable. As other CIS colleagues, we regarded a conversation of
deputy ministers as a possible format for the discussion of the
situation,” he said.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry still believes it would be right to
hold this meeting in Minsk, Mikhnevich said. “We still stand for holding
a meeting in the Belarusian capital city. We are confident that
everyone will feel comfortable here,” he said.
