The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine accused the official Minsk of overly emotional and generally groundless reaction to the protests near the Belarusian embassy in Kiev, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
“For Ukraine as a European democratic state, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly is of fundamental importance. There are no grounds to restrict the right to peaceful protest in this situation. Law enforcement agencies of Ukraine are taking appropriate measures,” the press service of the Foreign Ministry said. /
Kiev recalled that during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan “the Belarusian side did not react to the provocations of citizens who, under the walls of the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk, demonstrated their extremely unfriendly position towards Ukraine and the European course chosen by the Ukrainian people.”
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus handed a note of protest to the Ambassador of Ukraine in connection with the “anti-Belarusian actions “in relation to the embassy in Kiev and demanded” to ensure the security of the diplomatic mission at an appropriate level in accordance with the norms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961 “.
Some time ago, activists in Kiev erected a cross near the entrance to the Belarusian Embassy in memory of the dead participants in mass actions against President Alexander Lukashenko. He brought their portraits, lit candles, hung white-red-white ribbons on the trees, which are one of the symbols of protest in Belarus. Several people guard the natural memorial around the clock.