BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
09/02/2011
Minister Sikorski 'sick in the head', claims Belarusian newspaper
Poland's foreign minister Radek Sikoeski is "sick in the head" according to the pro-Lukashenko regime newspaper Sovietskaya Belarusia.
"His statements on Belarus are just a load of nonsense," adds the paper, referring to Poland's aggressive stance towards President Alexander Lukashenko following what were widely regarded as rigged presidential elections in December.
The newspaper, which has a circulation of around 400,000, observes what it regards as Minister Sikorski's strange behavior following the elections, the result, it claims of "falling victim to swine flu and suffering from complications which have affected the weakest part of his body - his head", the newspaper says in an op-ed article.
The pro-Lukashenka newspaper further wonders on the "strange twist of circumstances" which led to Sikorski's nomination for the post foreign minister in the first place.
The Foreign Ministry in Warsaw has refrained from commenting on the provocative article, which comes in the wake of remarks last week by Radek Sikorski, saying that it was only a matter of time before Lukashenko would end up the way of many dictators, such as President Mubarak in Egypt, when "Sooner or later [Lukashenko] will be forced to flee before [his] fellow citizens and seek shelter in another country with a human rights record even worse than his own."
A spokesman for Belarus's foreign ministry later said that Minister Sikorski appeared to be in a confused state as to the geography of Europe.
"Sikorski showed his remarkable knowledge of geography comparing the distance between Minsk and other European capitals," said belarusian spokesman Andrei Savinykh.
"In particular, the Polish minister said at the Warsaw conference: "Minsk is closer to Warsaw, Vilnius and Budapest than to Brussels. Minsk is closer to Berlin than to Rome. Minsk is closer to Brussels than to Lisbon and Helsinki."
"There is nothing to comment on here. It is not a speech of a diplomat, much less of a foreign minister. It is a speech of a biased reporter," concluded the Belarusian diplomat.
Sikorski used to work as a journalist before entering politics.
Poland has called for a strong response to the mass arrests that followed the disputed 19 December elections that Luakshenko won with a vote share of nearly 80 percent, accordingto the state electoral office. Warsaw has consequently slapped a travel ban on Lukashenko and his officials entering Poland.
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