Uladzimir Matskevich: It is necessary to prosecute an inquiry, instead of playing diplomatic wars

Belarus has jumped the track by having aggravated its conflict with Sweden. It is a way to the severance of diplomatic relations with one of the most influential countries of Northern Europe, normal relations with which are probably in the key...

Belarus has jumped the track by having aggravated its conflict with Sweden. It is a way to the severance of diplomatic relations with one of the most influential countries of Northern Europe, normal relations with which are probably in the key interests of sovereign Belarus. This is the opinion of the Head of the Board of the International Consortium "EuroBelarus" Uladzimir Matskevich.

The Belarusian party made a decision to recall its embassy from Sweden; Stockholm was offered to make a similar step. According to Uladzimir Matskevich, these events can be described in a diplomatic language, but the essence remains, “At present, the Belarusan regime’s protervity is being demonstrated. I think that there is not a single diplomat who would do something like that, only if there are no instructions from the very top. By and large, even despite so defiant actions of the Belarusian authorities concerning Stefan Eriksson, the situation had been developing in a usual diplomatic way. As a reply, the ambassador of Belarus to Sweden was offered to leave the country and two more Belarusian diplomats were warned. That is, adequate measures were taken in reply to Belarus’ actions. Now, when Sweden is offered to recall, as a matter of fact, all employees of its embassy, it means a step to cancel diplomatic relations. And this step is made by Belarus, not by Sweden.”

The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus underlines that "the Belarusian party especially emphasizes that in the context of these measures the question is not about the severance of diplomatic relations". Uladzimir Matskevich agrees that right now the question is really not about the severance of diplomatic relations. But, according to the philosopher and methodologist, it is a serious step in this direction, "We observe now escalation of these actions, which follow one another. Let's predict where it can bring us. We are not children who do something without realizing where it can lead. If two countries continue to react to each other’s actions in this way, it will necessarily result in the severance of diplomatic relations. And the possible severance of diplomatic relations contradicts everything - both common sense and political pragmatism".

In the current relations between Belarus and Sweden, Uladzimir Matskevich sees obvious analogies with relations between Belarus and Poland, "Both in Belarusian-Polish and Belarusian-Swedish relations, the situation is in a remarkable manner. From any point of view, the severance of diplomatic relations or aggravation of these relations cannot be favorable for Belarus. Not for Belarus as a nation, not for Belarus as a sovereign country, even not for today's regime that has never linked its own interests with the interests of the nation. There is almost a conspiratorial version, which I do not like at all, but still. The situation looks like that - everything is being done in the interests of a third party or someone who is neither official Minsk, nor official Stockholm or Warsaw. All is being done or somehow stimulated by a certain third party".

Despite the serious aggravation of the situation in relations between Minsk and Stockholm, Uladzimir Matskevich thinks that the conflict can still be solved, "It is possible to eliminate this conflict, but for this purpose it is necessary to launch normal mutual relations with the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish government, and to deal with the actions of the company, which committed the act of crossing Belarus’ border. The public needs to be shown all circumstances of what happened. It is necessary to find out who has benefited from this and who was behind it. It is necessary to prosecute an inquiry, instead of playing diplomatic wars. After all, there are already several versions of what happened, but maybe all these versions are groundless, and probably this action is really a private initiative of several persons. Yes, the situation is painful, but any painful situation can be solved in a normal human way. It includes dialogue, mutual coordination, and cooperation of all interested parties. Another thing is that every year, every month, the Belarusian regime has been committing such actions, which demonstrate that it is no longer able to have civilized dialogue in international relations and to normally solve conflicts; it is not capable of finding a human solution of problems".