Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has rejected EU claims, primarily to the latest parliamentary election, and accused the West of double standards.
“Belarus-EU relations are an endless example of EU attempts to turn upside down not only the history but also our country. Sometimes they make totally ungrounded claims based on double standards,” he said in an interview with the Mir broadcaster.
“Is the Belarusian regime stricter than Russia’s and are Belarusian trends worse than Russian?” the president wonder.
“They (the West) peck Russia but do not dare to touch it because the Russian administration controls the valve. They (the EU) may lose natural gas and crude, and then what shall they do? Here is their policy – double standards only,” he said.
“Is our regime worse than in Saudi Arabia, which the United States holds in its arms? But they have oil and money. And money does not smell, and American politicians love any smell of money,” the president added.
He said he recently came across a document about consultations EU officials and politicians held after the Belarusian parliamentary election. “Here is a quote: as not a single opposition member won the parliamentary election, the Belarusian election was not democratic. That is absurd!” Lukashenko said.
