BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

15/04/2006

Belarus not to blacklist EU officials, says president

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that the republic will not blacklist EU officials as "unwelcome visitors."

"We won't do this absurdity and foolishness, which the enlightened Europe is doing. We won't be going this way," Lukashenko was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Commenting on the European Union's decision to deny entry visas to a number of Belarussian politicians, Lukashenko said that Minsk had already noted the fact that the EU blacklist included the people that had nothing to do with the recent presidential election in Belarus.

The EU on Monday slapped a visa ban on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko and 30 other officials for what it deemed as violating international electoral standards and international human rights law.

Lukashenko stressed that the people who "intentionally distort the information about Belarus and in actual fact, against it, naturally and without any blacklists will be denied entry into the Belarussian territory."

Lukashenko is confident that relations with European countries are determined by the economy rather than politics.

"Plenty of statements have been made, but we are realists and we understand that there is nothing behind these statements by European politicians," he said.

Lukashenko also denied rumors that his health has deteriorated. "If anyone wants to create some kind of sensation, they're wasting their time. I will stay alive," Lukashenko said, the situation in Belarus "was and is under my full control."

Lukashenko was re-elected Belarussian president with nearly 83 percent of the vote in the March 19 election. He was sworn in on Saturday for a third term in office.

Source:

http://english.people.com.cn/200604/15/eng20060415_258559.html

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