12 August 2008, 20:32
Russia surprised with Belarus' silence on war in South Ossetia
Russia is bewildered with the silent stand of Belarusian authorities on Georgian-Ossetian conflict, said Alexander Surikov, Russian Ambassador to Belarus.
"We don't understand why state bodies of Belarus are keeping a sort of modest silence," Mr Surikov said in a press conference in Minsk on August 12. According to the Ambassador, during the whole time of the conflict Belarus presented "a statement of a minor official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only."
"Allies especially should utter more clearly on such issues," Alexander Surikov said as quoted by the BelaPAN Information Agency.
The Ambassador has declared that since Belarus and Russia are building "the Union State", "the citizens of Russia who appeared to be in humanitarian catastrophe are, to some extent, also citizens of Belarus."
The statement of Russia's Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Belarus was commented by Alexander Zimovskiy, member of the Council of the Republic of Belarus.
"The silence is modest because Belarus, as an ally, was placed into all the necessary conditions for modesty. Therefore, Mr Ambassador has inopportunely mentioned the Union State Agreement. I remind you that that at the start of the current Caucasian war the formal head of the Union State Alexander Lukashenko and the formal prime-minister of the Union State Vladimir Putin were at the distance of visual, and maybe also verbal contact - at the rostrum of the 'Bird's Nest' Stadium in Beijing. However, Mr Putin discussed the Caucasian knot not with his formal boss and legal ally, but with other persons. It follows that Belarus considers Russia as her ally historically and permanently, while Russia considers Belarus to be her ally just from time to time and when it's politically and economically expedient," the "Belarus News" quotes the politician as saying.
