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Belarusian deputy FM slams EU transport restrictions
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MINSK, 7 July (BelTA) – The situation with EU transport restrictions is turning into pure absurdity, Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Sekreta said in an interview with the German magazine Hintergrund, BelTA has learned.
The deputy foreign minister was asked how to bypass the barrier of closed airspace, should the West eventually choose to reopen a dialogue.
“I am ready to get on a plane to Berlin as early as tomorrow, but so far, I haven’t been invited. On top of that, there is a purely practical problem: there are no longer any direct flights between Minsk and Berlin,” Igor Sekreta said. “I consider this a fundamental historic mistake. You can impose political sanctions on anything you like, but you must not restrict direct human contact. Just think about it: even during the iciest days of the Cold War, at the height of the bloc confrontation between capitalism and socialism, direct flights between East and West still existed. People could get visas, even with bureaucratic hurdles, and visit one another.”
“Today, the West constantly preaches democracy, freedom, and the inviolable right to freedom of movement, yet I, as a diplomat, have to fly via Istanbul just to get to Berlin! The whole situation is turning into pure absurdity,” Igor Sekreta stressed.
In this regard, he noted that he was recently suggested to meet with Lithuanian deputy minister of foreign affairs for diplomatic consultations in Washington. “Just imagine the distances: the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, is closer to Minsk than my parents’ home in a Belarusian village! To visit my parents, I have to drive 170 kilometers. The Lithuanian border is just 150 kilometers from Minsk. The Lithuanian government is geographically closer to me than my own mother!” the deputy foreign minister said. “And in this situation, are we expected to fly to Istanbul and then to Washington just to hold a meeting on American soil between two European neighbors? Is this still considered normal? Is this that vaunted European rationality?”
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