BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

2005-06-11 13:38:35

Belarus Foreign Minister Speaks of Visa Row with Georgia

/ Civil Georgia, Tbilisi /

Belarus Foreign Minister Sergey Martinov said in an interview with the Belarus state TV channel on June 10 that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's decision on possible enforcement of visa requirements with Georgia was triggered by the threat of, as he put it, arrival of "revolutionary fighters" in Belarus from Georgia. The Belarus Foreign Ministers has also called on Tbilisi, which has been criticizing Belarus for its human rights abuse, to change the policy in regard of Minsk.

"Decision of the [Belarus] President was triggered by objective and understandable facts: it is not a secret that President Saakashvili, as well as the Georgian Parliament have made statements and also have decided to dispatch "revolutionary" fighters [to Belarus], which will, naturally, be followed by criminal elements. We know about this [scenario] from the experience of other countries," the Belarus Foreign Minister said, with reference to Ukraine, where a group of Georgian students from the Kmara (Enough) organization, were taking part in the peaceful demonstrations, which led to Orange Revolution last year.

"What is the purpose of dispatching these "revolutionary" fighters to Belarus? To foster calm, dignified and prosperous life of the Belarus people? Definitely not. Apparently there are other reasons. Must the President [of Belarus], as the guarantor of the country's stability, defend the state from the raids of this kind? Of course he must. That is why, the President instructed the Foreign Ministry and the law enforcement agencies to look into the situation once again and if there is no change in the Georgian leadership's policy over dispatching here "extremists" of instability, we will, possibly, recommend the President of Belarus to impose visa requirements with this country [Georgia]," Sergey Martinov said.

A group of Georgian parliamentarians proposed a draft statement in response to the Belarus President's decision, which recommends the authorities to consider Alexander Lukashenko persona non grata in Georgia. The Parliament is expected to discuss this draft statement at the session next week.

But the Belarus Foreign Minister described this reaction of the Georgian Parliament as "silly" and "a storm in empty cup." Foreign Minister Martinov said that there is no visa regime currently with Georgia and will not be in case "forceful expert of the revolution" from Georgia into Belarus does not occur.

Source:

http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=10105