The political crisis in Ukraine has extremely exacerbated the situation inside the country and beyond its borders, Foreign Minister of Belarus Vladimir Makei said at a joint meeting of the Foreign Ministries of Belarus and Russia in Minsk.
       According to Vladimir Makei, the conflict has led to a high level of mutual distrust. Moreover, taking into account new sanction measures, the world in fact has found itself on the edge of a new cold war.
     (Record)
      “The logic of war in Ukraine prevails over the logic of peace. The agreements reached in Minsk are not honored at all. The clear escalation of the armed conflict is evident. We are totally against it. Some people do not want to sit down at the negotiating table. But, when lives are lost, when it is really about the death of many, you have to sit down and negotiate. We want this armed conflict to stop. We want to avoid further escalation of the armed confrontation. We want the parties to start negotiating and finally come to the actual agreements on the cessation of the bloodshed.”

       In turn, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov said Minsk was a comfortable venue for talks on Ukraine. He also stressed that there is no other way as to use the Minsk platform for the regulation of the Ukrainian crisis:
       (Record)
     “We still believe that Minsk is a comfortable venue to continue advancing a direct dialogue between Kiev and representatives of the South-East of Ukraine. There is no other way to address this crisis.”