MINSK. Nov 23 (Interfax) - There is no alternative to close cooperation between Belarus and the European Union, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said.
"We believe the sanctions standoff will not do any good, and there is no alternative to close interaction, close cooperation between Belarus and the European Union. Anyway, this will have to be understood and accepted sooner or later," Makei said in an interview with the Belarus 1 television channel. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry released a transcript of the interview on its website on Sunday.
"Our recent experience of cooperation with the European Union shows that just four or five years of normal cooperation have been more advantageous to everyone, both European partners and the Belarusian state and civil society (which our partners care so much about), than the previous 15 years, during which we were operating under sanctions," he said.
The sanctions imposed by Belarus "are merely a response to the challenging and destructive steps undertaken by our European partners in Belarus' regard," Makei said.
"We have never been the one to initiate such things," he said.
As reported earlier, Minsk plans to suspend the operation of the Belarus-EU Coordination Group, to expand blacklists (with members of the EU leadership), and to suspend the human rights dialogue with the European Union. Besides, according to Makei, Belarus "believes that the full-scale involvement in the activity of the Eastern Partnership initiative will make little sense."