European institutions' pressure on Belarus lost steam, MP says

European institutions' campaign of putting pressure on Belarus has run out of steam, said Uladzimir Syanko, chairman of the Committee on International Affairs and National Security in the Council of the Republic, said at a meeting of the upper parliamentary chamber on November 27.

The former foreign minister said that European institutions continued their practice of adopting "stereotyped restrictive resolutions" on the situation in Belarus.

"They have a dead-end stance as they are not able to come up with any efficient tools of influencing the Belarusian authorities," Mr. Syanko said.

He noted that the Belarusian legislature sought to establish a "constructive dialogue" with European MPs both through inter-parliamentary organizations and at the bilateral level.

"We see clearly that political hawks who oppose us do not represent a majority, although they do set the tone, especially in Brussels, in shaping approaches critical of Belarus," said Mr. Syanko, a former ambassador to France, Poland, the United Kingdom and Belgium.

There is a large number of politicians in Europe who have a "sober and pragmatic" view of the situation in Belarus and advocate a dialogue with Minsk, he said.