Belarusan Foreign Ministry is caught in the crossfire

Dzmitry Mironchyk, the foreign ministry's spokesman didn’t answer the question whether Belarus assumes Crimea to be Russian territory.

When reached by BelaPAN on March 20, Dzmitry Mironchyk refused to explain whether it was Russia or the West that had a "one-sided and biased interpretation of the principles of international law for the sake of geopolitical interests." "Belarus' stance on this issue is fully expressed in the foreign ministry's statement," he said. 

As EuroBelarus Information Service has earlier reported, the statement issued by the Foreign Ministry as of March 19 said that “The Republic of Belarus cannot be indifferent to the events in Ukraine, including the referendum held on March 16, 2014 in the Crimea, and the decision on the Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation adopted as follow-on to the referendum”.

Kiev expects Belarus to condemn Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Yevhen Perebyinis, spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, commented on the Belarusan foreign ministry’s statement saying that “We have always had a mutual understanding with the Belarusans. I did not see signs of support for Russia’s actions in that statement. That was a positive signal from Belarus.” 

However, according to the official, “the statement certainly did not make it clear whether or not Belarus condemned the annexation of Crimea. This is what we would like to hear from our Belarusan friends and partners.”