Belarus hopes for abolition of EU sanctions

Belarus hopes for quick abolition of the EU sanctions, an official said late Thursday.

Belarus hopes that EU authorities will soon understand the futility and lack of prospects of sanctions and restrictions against Belarus and will take the corresponding decisions to lift them in the near future, foreign ministry press-secretary Dmitry Mironchik said.

According to Mironchik, the abolition of sanctions will clear the way for the improvement of the relations between Belarus and the European Union, Xinhua news agency reported.

The official stressed that sanctions used as an instrument of foreign policy against any state are counter-productive and unable to bring results they are used for. "One cannot speak the language of sanctions and ultimatums with a partner," he added.

Mironchik said such measures are more likely to undermine the trust in the European Union than cause real damage to Belarus or influence the situation.

The EU imposed visa and economic sanctions against the representatives of the official Minsk in January 2011 in response to "the continued incarceration of political prisoners and crackdown on political activists, journalists and civil society representatives".