NATO Representative: We do not have intention to invite Lukashenka
7- 2.04.2008, 15:59
The Foreign Ministry of Belarus has made a statement today that Belarus refuses to take part in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) summit in Bucharest on April 3.
The meeting at the level of leaders of states or governments of member countries of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council is to take place in Bucharest tomorrow in a form of a working dinner. The EAPC is a consultative body in the security affairs of the region.
The reason for the demarche of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry is in fact that Alyaksandr Lukashenka is unwelcome at the meeting in Bucharest.
Mr. Lukashenka is really not expected at tomorrow’s summit of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Radio Svaboda has been told by Acting NATO Deputy Spokesman Robert Pszczel. He said that it is not a secret the NATO was not going to invite Lukashenka in connection of violation of democratic standards in Belarus by him.
The deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front party Vintsuk Vyachorka believes that the decision of the NATO to place restrictions on the level of Belarusian participants at the meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council entirely logical, in line with the Euro-Atlantic policy towards Belarus:
“It goes without saying, it is completely natural. There should be no way for Lukashenka to any democratic country. Unfortunately, there is only one exception, the UN”.
Vintsuk Vyachorka reminds that recently NATO experts visited Belarus. They studied the overall situation and readiness of the official Minsk to cooperate with the NATO. Vintsuk Vyachorka had a meeting with them and said that as long as the Belarusian troops are not engaged in the repressive machine, the NATO should maintain contacts with it. But recently the situation started to change:
“The recent events connected with the use of the army as a repressive machine (Zhaleznichenka’s case, threats to enroll to the army those young people who are expelled from universities unlawfully) show that unfortunately now the leadership of the Defence Ministry has yielded to the pressure of the state and drifted away from the principle of non-interference of the army into the repressive policies. And the NATO bloc should make conclusions here. In this sense lowering of the level of representatives looks logical,” Vintsuk Vyachorka has stressed.
