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Lukashenka: Belarus does not speed up process of deteriorating relations with USA

Belarus does not speed up the process of deteriorating relations with the United States, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said in an interview given to Reuters on May 13, according to the Belarusian government’s news agency BelTA.

“One should not frighten us with sanctions; we’ll survive,” the Belarusian leader was quoted as saying. “If the Americans want to have 20, 30 or 50 diplomats here, they are welcome to it. But we don’t need diplomats who work to the detriment of the country and don’t help normalize relations.”

In the last two months, the United States has recalled its ambassador and reduced its diplomatic staff in Minsk from 32 to 15 and then to four diplomats by order of the Belarusian government, which retaliated for Washington’s sanctions against Belarus’ state petrochemical conglomerate Belnaftakhim.

In November 2007, the US Treasury Department announced that any assets found in the USA that belong to Belnaftakhim should be frozen, as the Department had added Belnaftakhim to its list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons. The resulting sanctions also barred US citizens from doing business with Belnaftakhim and its offices.

Mr. Lukashenka also spoke about ways of “further improving” Belarus’ relations with the European Union, BelTA said. “This question should be posed to the European Union, not me,” he was quoted as saying. “We are ready to go any way with you in order to improve our relations. There is one condition: You should view us as a sovereign and independent state. We are ready to build relations with you on this basis in any area.”