NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday 26 August denounced the Belarusian regime’s claims that the Alliance has strengthened its military positions near that country’s western border.
There is “no military build up in the region so any attempt to use NATO as an excuse or pretext to crack down on demonstrators is absolutely wrong, unjustified. Any attempt to try to shift focus for domestic issues to external issues to create an excuse for using violence against people is not acceptable”, he explained on his arrival at the informal meeting of EU defence ministers. According to Mr Stoltenberg, any attempt to turn an internal crisis in Belarus into an external crisis to excuse the use of violence against the population is “not acceptable”.
The Secretary General also called on the Belarusian regime to respect fundamental values and rights, including freedom of expression, and to demonstrate peacefully. “The Belarusian people have the right to decide their own future. They have the right to free and fair elections”, he said.
NATO is monitoring the situation closely.
The situation in Belarus will be discussed this Thursday at the informal meeting of European Foreign Ministers in Berlin (see EUROPE 12546/4). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)