Ukraine Condemns Belarusian President's Statement Against the EU

KYIV, Ukraine, April 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ukraine considers the official Minsk and Belarusian President Lukashenko's recent approach in relations with the European Union and other members of the international community inconsistent with international communication norms. A statement has been released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (MFA) in response to Lukashenko's address to the European and Ukrainian leadership.

In the statement, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the Belarusian President's comments "unprecedentedly inappropriate". However, Ukraine expressed hope that the Belarusian leadership would return to constructive dialogue with the EU and Ukraine. Both Ukraine and the EU would like to see Belarus a prosperous, democratic and successful state.

Also, according to the statement, both the Ukrainian state and people stay firm in preserving their "warm and friendly" attitude towards Belarusian people. "The tragic accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant unites the three neighboring and friendly nations - Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian. This was the reasoning behind Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's invitation of the presidents of the Russian Federation and Belarus to jointly commemorate the victims of the largest anthropogenic accident in the history of human kind on the very day Chornobyl blew up. There should be no politics on this day," reads the statement.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that verbal insults are unacceptable in communication between state leaders, who represent independent countries and unions of member-states.

Yesterday, President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko commented on his absence at the Chornobyl conference in Kyiv, initiated by the Ukrainian president. In his interview, Lukashenko criticises European leaders, namely the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Ukrainian president.

On March 18, Ukraine stated its eagerness to promote the renewal of relations between Belarus and the EU. Earlier, on January 31, the EU banned the entry of 158 Belarusian high officials, including President Lukashenko and two of his sons. The EU and nine other EU-friendly states (Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Iceland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Liechtenstein and Norway) have imposed such penalties in protest to perceived repression of the Belarusian opposition by the country's leadership, following December 19 presidential elections.