Oleg Gulak: Europe won't solve the problem of Belarusian elections

Chairman of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Oleg Gulak commented to UDF.BY on the invitation at the international conference in Vienna granted to Chairman and Secretary of the Central Election Commission Lidia Yermoshina and Nikolai Lozovik, having a status of banned entry to the EU.

- Lozovik with Yermoshina go not to learn, but to participate in the OSCE process, which is associated with the elections.

Bearing in mind that international evaluation correspond to the reality, and is adequate, we also need to understand that Belarus is not excluded from the OSCE (I think its an important part in this process), that's why our country at the international conference to be represented by the individuals who are endowed with appropriate powers by the acting authorities.

In this sense, the sanctions have a certain conditionality. This is the reality we have.

- Viktor Kornienko said the OSCE initiative is harmful, since the participation of officials in the international conference will drive them to a single conclusion: elections can be falsified further, and Europe will swallow all this.

- And it will swallow.

And what does "swallow" means? Europe won't put an end to this problem? True: it's not Europe who will solve the problem of Belarusian elections. And the participation of the CEC heads in the conference won't push Europe to make a blind eye to violations of election laws, international standards in this area, to human rights violations.

In my opinion, neither their participation nor their non-participation will not change anything fundamentally.