European funds redirected from cross-border projects to Belarusian opposition

“We have drawn attention of our partners to the fact that we should stop accusing each other and focus on the areas where we could develop cooperation. There are a lot of them. They include cross-border crime, illegal migration, regional security issues, and many, many others,” the minister said.

Vladimir Makei was surprised at the intention of European partners to terminate a number of projects within the framework of cross-border cooperation: “When we were told that these projects were meant to develop the civil society in Belarus, we supported such undertakings. Now we see that the funds which were spent on these projects (we were told that these projects are terminated) are redirected to finance foreign trips of the opponents of the Belarusian authorities. May that be on the conscience of those who initiate such things.”

The minister continued: “It turns out that a number of non-governmental organizations and public associations, which actively worked with the European Union, for example, the Belarusian Red Cross and organizations that really did a useful job and promoted the development of the civil society in Belarus (something that our partners care so much about) have been stripped of appropriate financing and will not be able to continue their work. We see that Belarus' civil society is being divided into ‘white' and ‘black' now.

Such an approach is wrong, said the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs.