Belarus at UN: Radical escalation of the military conflict may lead to its expansion to the EU
Valentin Rybakov. An archive photo
MINSK, 14 August (BelTA) — Belarus’ Permanent Representative to the UN Valentin Rybakov provided details of Belarus’ airspace violation by Ukrainian drones as he spoke at the UN Security Council meeting on 13 August, BelTA has learned.
In his words, the Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine was lodged a strong protest and handed over a note over the violation of the border of the Republic of Belarus by a group of unmanned aerial vehicles launched from the territory of Ukraine.
The Belarusian diplomat expressed surprise about the response of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “Today, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to these events in a very interesting way. It was literally stated as follows: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine sees no particular reason to respond to the statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus. This is a very interesting response.”
The EU representative in Belarus was also summoned to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be informed about the danger of a radical escalation of the military conflict, including for the EU.
He continued: “On 12 August, the EU chargé d’affaires in Belarus was invited to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The European diplomat was informed of Belarus’ position regarding the incident. The European diplomat’s attention was drown to the fact that a number of elements of one of the drones shot down by the Belarusian air defense forces had EU markings.”
“According to the Belarusian side, such actions have the potential for a radical escalation of the military conflict and its expansion to the EU countries as well,” the Belarus’ permanent representative to the UN said.
Valentin Rybakov stressed: “Belarus stays committed to a peaceful settlement of the crisis by negotiations and calls on the European Union to take all possible measures to influence the Ukrainian authorities in order to prevent such actions in the future.”
