MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - EU sanctions against Belarus are counterproductive, lead to a blind alley, first deputy head of the Duma Committee for International Affairs Konstantin Kosachyov believes.
"We see the situation entering a vicious circle of mutual complaints and sanctions in which each of the sides - the European Union and Belarus - picks on one part and interprets it to justify its own moves. That is a road to nowhere," he said to Interfax on Wednesday.
In this situation, "it is vital to return to the sources of the conflict that broke out when the EU and several of its member-states entered the road of exerting direct political and economic pressure on Belarus, including the imposition of bans on the travels of certain Belarusian politicians and officials to their territories and the restriction of trade and economic ties," he said.
This happened after the presidential election in December 2010, the deputy recalled.
Kosachyov admitted that the political system in Belarus, as in some other countries, is far from perfect. "But the transformation, and modernization of the system is the sole prerogative of the Belarusian people and the political elites of that country," he said.
"Outside pressure on the part of the EU is so open and unceremonious that ultimately it only leads to the international isolation of Belarus, which results in the conservation of its internal problems, instead of their solution," Kosachyov thinks.
He said that a similarly obstructive attitude to Belarus has been assumed by several Council of Europe member-states to prevent the involvement of Belarus in that organization. In his opinion, the imposition of new EU sanctions against Belarus and the recall of ambassadors for consultations will only aggravate the situation.
"Unlike many countries of Europe, Russia continues developing advanced integration structures with Belarus - the Union State and now also the Eurasian Union. Russia is making a much more constructive contribution to the solution of Belarusian problems than the so-called friends of Belarus acting on the EU side" Kosachyov said.
In these conditions there should be no "closed topics" in the dialogue between our countries and all matters should be settled "without diktat or attempts to impose one's opinion on the other."