Belarus will not make
immediate steps to please Europe before it
makes any decisions concerning the country, BelTA quoted Alyaksandr Lukashenka
as saying at his meeting with 11 ambassadors. The Belarusian leader said that it makes no sense to
put pressure on Belarus.
"An EU meeting on policies with regard to Belarus is coming soon. I strongly
ask you: if you proceed from the premise that Belarus and Lukashenka can be
pressed into fulfilling all conditions written by our opposition and delivered
to Brussels -- it is useless to put pressure on any country, pressure on the
country at the heart of the European continent is outrageous," Lukashenka
was quoted as saying.
He added that if the EU wants to see someone else at
the helm of Belarus,
it should wait.
Lukashenka stressed that ten years of European sanctions
against Belarus
yielded no result.
The Belarusian leader expressed hope the Eastern
Partnership will help expand trade, economic, visa, transport and energy ties
between Belarus
and the EU.
