Ukraine has frozen contact with Belarus and joined the ecu Union in condemning the recent elections in its northerly neighbour as not free or fair, secretary of state Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday.
Kuleba said there was no reason to
interrupt off diplomatic relations entirely, but added Ukraine would take a
choice on imposing sanctions on Belarus after seeing what the EU would do.
"We put all contacts on pause until
things in Belarus stabilises," he told an appointment
Ukraine has thus far been guarded’ when
commenting on the political turmoil engulfing Belarus, a fellow former Soviet
republic, since an Aug. 9 presidential election sparked mass protests against
veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko.
While Belarus is traditionally an in depth
Moscow ally, Lukashenko made common cause with Ukraine in refusing to recognize
Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and has hosted talks on the conflict
within the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
His opponents accuse Lukashenko of rigging
the vote to increase his 26-year rule. He denies electoral fraud. Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has involved new elections but said it had been
up to Belarusians to settle on their leader.
Belarus responded saying it didn't need
Ukraine's advice, the Belarusian news outlet tut.by reported.
Ukraine has temporarily banned the entry
of foreigners into the country to contain the spread of COVID-19, but Kuleba
said Belarusians eager to escape their political crisis could be exempted and
given’ entry permits.
Ukraine was angered’ when Minsk decided to
not extradite a gaggle of Russians detained in Belarus in July despite
initially being receptive to the thought. Belarus had accused the lads of
seeking to destabilise the country, marking an unusual diplomatic row with
Russia that was later, patched up.
At the time, Russia had said the lads were
private security workers on their thanks to a 3rd country. Russian President
Putin said on Thursday the lads had been lured’ to Belarus by a Ukrainian-U.S. intelligence.
Ukraine denied such an intelligence
existed but wanted to extradite 28 of the group, suspecting the lads of
fighting alongside Russian-backed separatists within the Donbass. Belarus
initially agreed to cooperate within the case with Ukraine, but instead handed
the lads to Russia this month.
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