Today, Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Russia will protect Belarus and provide support for it in the event that the European Union imposes economic sanctions on it.
According to Russia Today, this came in statements made by the Director of the Economic Cooperation Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Dmitry Peretievsky, commenting on what the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, made days before threats that "sectoral" economic sanctions on Minsk, which are being discussed by the European Union, It may affect the export of potassium and the transit of Russian gas through Belarus.
Brussels intends to impose these sanctions in response to what was described by the Belarusian authorities forcing a plane belonging to the Irish "Ryanair" company, which was operating a flight from Greece to Lithuania on May 23, to land in Minsk, with the aim of arresting an opposition Belarusian journalist who was on board.
"I think we will defend our partner and help our allies. What the West invents against Belarus raises completely negative feelings, because first an investigation must be carried out into what happened, and then thinking about how to respond, instead of making hasty statements," Berechevsky said.
Nevertheless, the Russian diplomat stressed that Moscow's approach "is to refrain from taking rash actions." He added that with regard to the transit of Russian gas in particular, "it is necessary to calculate the extent of the impact on the economy and the existing contracts."
Commenting on the possibility of reciprocating in the event that the European Union imposes sanctions on Minsk that affect the transit of Russian gas, Berechevsky said, "We cannot respond to the measures that are imposed on another country, and we need to discuss this matter with partners to see what we can do."
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