Western sanctions against Belarus affecting Russia are similar to the punishment of official Minsk for friendship with Moscow. In this, the Western countries were caught by the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Pankin, RIA Novosti reports.
“The geopolitical factors of Western pressure on the republic friendly for us are visible,” the diplomat concluded. He recalled that in December 2020, the US Congress adopted “Act on Democracy, Human Rights and Sovereignty of Belarus”, providing for the possibility of introducing restrictions against citizens of Russia and the Union State. At the same time, the European Union, according to Pankina, included in the black list of two Russians.
The Deputy Foreign Ministry noted that in October the European Parliament opposed Russian-Belarusian integration. “How does this fit with the initiators declared sanctions concern about the state of democracy in Belarus?” – he clarified.
Earlier, Pankin revealed the goal of Western sanctions against Minsk. According to him, the restrictions aimed to provoke a new wave of anti-government protests in the country and deliberately enjoy the standard of living of ordinary inhabitants of Belarus. The diplomat reminded that the West imposed sanctions on the sector of the Belarusian industry, on which the welfare of hundreds of thousands of citizens depends.