Belarus won't dispute Ukrainian right to secede from CIS but expects balanced decision
MINSK. March 14 (Interfax) - Ukraine's possible secession from the CIS is the sovereign right of this country, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.
"Speaking of declarations of the possible secession of Ukraine from the CIS, this is definitely the sovereign right of each state. No one disputes it and no one is going to. But it is easy to slam the door shut in hot blood, especially as they seem to have a formal occasion: "You did not come to Kyiv but we can do without you"," Belarusian First Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhnevich said. His answer to a media question was published on the ministry website on Friday.
At the same time, Minsk expects Ukraine to be pragmatic in its evaluation of all the pros and cons of this decision, Mikhnevich said.
"I am positive that Kyiv will plan its moves in a pragmatic way and make a choice, which will be appreciated by businesses and average citizens," he noted.
"Yet even a perfunctory sober analysis of Ukraine's membership in the CIS displays a number of obvious advantages, such as trade issues, economic relations as a whole and numerous cooperation formats in the field of transport, energy, communications, anti-crime measures and so on. Not to mention humanitarian contacts," he said, adding that the choice was up to the Ukrainian side.
Mikhnevich reaffirmed the preparedness of the Belarusian side to attend a CIS meeting in a format approved by all member countries.
The deputy minister reminded reporters that Ukraine had initiated a special meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers and Belarus did not raise principled objections to the discussion of the Ukrainian situation at the CIS.
"We were upset by the Ukrainian rejection of the meeting's level as unacceptable. As other CIS colleagues, we regarded a conversation of deputy ministers as a possible format for the discussion of the situation," he said.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry still believes it would be right to hold this meeting in Minsk, Mikhnevich said. "We still stand for holding a meeting in the Belarusian capital city. We are confident that everyone will feel comfortable here," he said.
