MINSK. Nov 25 (Interfax) - Russian Ambassador to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev has underlined the importance of the further strengthening of bilateral relations between Moscow and Minsk.
"I have no doubt that Russia and Belarus are equally interested in strengthening their bilateral relations in dozens of areas, enhancing the defense potential of the Union State and the allied relations in the EAEU, the CIS and the CSTO that have proven their efficiency," Mezentsev told journalists in Minsk on Wednesday.
"At the same time, Belarus is an independent and sovereign state, and no one in the West has the right to tell Minsk how to develop relations with partners, which are either already deep or which the republic wishes to establish," he said.
"The multidirectional policy, which is increasingly shaped by the export-centered model of the Belarusian economy, should not lead to the 'measuring' of little or big steps taken by the republic in regards to particular partners," Mezentsev said. "However, this kind of foreign policy model should not become a factor reducing the depth or significance of the bilateral relations between Russia and Belarus, let alone becoming a threat to those," he said.
"The existent scope of allied obligations of Belarus to Russia and vice versa is so substantial and valuable to the sides that neither representative of the sides has the right to allow a decline in the current level of interaction," Mezentsev said.
The ambassador cited the upcoming joint board meeting of the two foreign ministries in Minsk as an example. "The joint board meeting co-chaired by the foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Vladimir Makei, is bound to reaffirm the year-long tradition of interaction between the foreign ministries of Russia and Belarus; this event is also deemed to be a significant stage in the strengthening of the entire system of bilateral relations," he said.
Interaction at international organizations is an item on the joint board meeting's agenda, Mezentsev said. "In the absolute majority of cases, both the Belarusian side and the Russian side back joint initiatives and proposals, and we have borne witness to numerous cases of confirmation of 'symmetric' approaches in foreign policy cooperation," he said.
"A keynote example is the shared opinion of the sides on the history of the great feat of the Soviet people, Red Army soldiers, who defeated fascism. It was demonstrated with the promotion of the UN General Assembly resolution that condemned the glorification of Nazism; that was particularly important in the year of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory," Mezentsev said.