MFA comments on Makei's ‘secret' letter to EU diplomats

The spokesman said that such a letter on behalf of the minister was sent to the EU countries, adding that this was a normal, routine diplomatic practice. Anatoly Glaz added that keeping this fact in mind he considered it strange that the letter evoked such a response.

“As for the letter, yes, there was such a document,” said the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The reason for writing it was the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Belarus and the EU, marked in 2022. “Being a respectable partner, we could not ignore this date. The minister decided to prepare such a letter for some of his counterparts,” he explained.

“The pointof writing a letter was very simple: we see what a chaos has been created in our region, including the attacks on our country, and we wanted to formulate once again our position, which has not changed and consists in the fact that all issues must be resolved at the negotiating table. Neither pressure, nor blackmail, nor any other methods, including illegal sanctions, will solve any problem, while the presence of the European Union in Belarus will continue contracting, which, in fact, is happening today,” said Anatoly Glaz.

According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no illusions that the invitation to build normal relations in this case would be duly accepted. “But reaching out was our diplomatic duty, which we fulfilled,” the press secretary said. “The minister has written several dozen such letters to his counterparts. We have already received a response from some of them. Perhaps it was not positive, but certainly constructive. That means that some people perceived this signal. The one who leaked the diplomatic document to the media, showed their true level of professionalism, tact, desire to solve something and did not surprise us at all.”

A letter on behalf of Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei, dated 6 April, has been published online earlier and contained a proposal to the EU countries to resume a dialogue with Belarus, abandoning the sanctions policy. It was stressed in the letter that the relationship between Belarus and the European Union had been developing productively for a number of years, which was beneficial for both the parties. But as a result of the unfortunate chain of events of 2020, they returned almost to the “glacial period”, and a new Berlin Wall was put up between the parties.

According to the letter, the EU sanctions were negatively affecting ordinary Belarusians, and such a policy could result only in the diminishing presence of the European Union in Belarus.

“I hope wisdom, pragmatism, support for the sovereignty and independence of all European countries, including Belarus, and the desire to preserve peace and prosperity for all will guide us in this effort,” the letter read.