Minsk Is Ready for Talks with the West

The Belarusian authorities declare their interest in dialogue with Western countries and intend to respond to the sanctions. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei announced Minsk's readiness for a dialogue with the West. He said this in an interview with RT TV channel. "We are interested in any conflicts being resolved through a calm, normal, as it is now fashionable to say, inclusive dialogue. This also applies to the internal political situation, this also applies to our readiness for an external dialogue. We are now ready to sit down at the negotiating table with any of our partners who will express a desire in this regard, but, unfortunately, so far we do not hear a single tenable voice in the choir of the collective West," he said. Makei assured that Belarus "has never been and is not going to be a source of tension." "We have always said that we are interested in dialogue. We have always only responded to the restrictive measures that our partners have taken in relation to Belarus," Makei stressed. He added that Minsk is ready "to discuss specific areas of interaction, if the partners are sincerely frank about this kind of dialogue." "We want to have balanced relations with everyone. But at the same time, we perfectly understand that there are states, partners with whom we are simply obliged to have closer relations, for example, Russia," Makei said. He also promised to "respond" to the sanctions against Belarus. Recall that at the end of June, the European Union, Britain and the United States imposed sanctions against Belarusian companies in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair plane and the detention of journalist Roman Protasevich.