OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2011. All the issues between partners should be addressed by means of an open and constructive dialogue, Andrei Savinykh, Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, told reporters on 17 February commenting on the current state of relations between Belarus and Europe.

“Today the relations between Belarus and the EU are rather strained. To a great extent it was caused by the EU’s unilateral actions and adoption of decisions following the election campaign, in particular, following the events that took place in Minsk after the polling stations had closed,” Andrei Savinykh said.

In his words, Belarus’ considers the EU’s decisions unjustified, they are a major setback for the bilateral relations. They push Belarus to take retaliatory measures, the official representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.

“Unfortunately, it is not what we want. We are convinced that all the problems should be settled in an open and meaningful dialogue between all the partners. We are convinced that the parties will be able to resume friendly relations and cooperation,” Andrei Savinykh said.