Belarus hits back at Armenia’s criticism of its position on row with Azerbaijan

November 2, BPN. A spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, Anatol Hłaz, has said his country’s partners and allies can be confident in Belarus, TASS reported. He was commenting on his Armenian counterpart Vahan Hunanyan’s remark critical of Alaksandr Łukašenka’s bias in favor of Azerbaijan in the Armenian-Azerbaijani border dispute.

The Belarusian strongman told Stanisłaŭ Zaś, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), that the clash could have been avoided if Armenia had returned territories to Azerbaijan. 

Belarus and Armenia are both members of the CSTO, while Azerbaijan is not a member of the Russian-dominated military bloc.

Hłaz said that throughout history, Belarus has proved its commitment to allied obligations not only in words but in deeds: “It is unprofessional to question this obvious fact. Decency is one of the features of our foreign policy. Therefore, our partners and allies can be confident in us in the future. If other countries behaved in the same way, many problems would have been avoided.”

At the meeting with Zaś, Łukašenka also expressed bewilderment that the European Union and the OSCE were meddling in the Armenian-Azerbaijani border dispute, calling it a game. He added that he saw no need to send additional observers to the border.