Russia will not restrict exit for Belarusian opposition members

No stupid things when making lists of travel banned persons, the ambassador of Russia to Minsk says.

Russia did not receive “blacklists” of opposition activists banned from leaving Belarus, Russian ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov told Interfax-Zapad news agency.

“I do not rule out certain agencies may have talked about it, but there were no official documents. Moreover, it is difficult to implement in practice,” the diplomat said stressing that “if a person has a valid passport and a visa, we cannot restrict his movements.”

Surikov noted there are Russian citizens barred from leaving the country. “If there is an exit ban, it happens sometimes, people are always informed beforehand. A decision to restrict exit from the country can be taken only by law. Every country has travel ban lists, but they should be edited, to put it mildly, without stupid things,” the diplomat said commenting  on the travel ban imposed on Andrei Sannikov's lawyer Maryna Kavaleuskaya for “draft evasion” (women are not liable for military service in Belarus - Interfax).

Surikov thinks the authorities should be merciful to their opponents. “What concerns the mercy of the authorities. The authorities should be permissive when it it comes to imprisonment, but they should secure order to prevent anarchy,” the diplomat said.

He turned his attention to different approaches of the Belarusian and Russian authorities towards imprisonment of opposition activists. “We did not jail anybody (after a rally on Bolotnaya Square – Interfax), but you jailed (after a rally on December 19, 2010 – Interfax),” the ambassador said comparing the protest rallies in Belarus and Russia. “At first sight, some parallels are possible – discontent over the elections. That's all, the rest things are different,” Surikov said.