V.Andreychenko: Belarus must be respected, just as it respects the sovereign interests of other states

April 18, Glubokoye / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Belarus should be respected just as it respects the sovereign interests of other states, Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko said, answering questions from employees of Open Joint Stock Company "Glubokoye Dairy and Canning Plant", BELTA correspondent reports. Sanctions against Belarus are caused by its independent domestic and foreign policy. The European Union demands that Belarus fulfill three main requirements: the release of so-called political prisoners, changes to electoral legislation, which allegedly does not comply with international standards, and the abolition of the death penalty. However, there are no articles concerning political crimes in the entire legislation, and those people who are in places of detention and whom the EU calls political prisoners have committed criminal offenses. They called for the overthrow of the constitutional system, participated in an attempt to storm the Government House, stated Vladimir Andreichenko, who was a direct eyewitness to the events of December 19, 2010. As for electoral legislation, it changed radically in 2010 - by 90% in accordance with the recommendations of the OSCE ODIHR. All political parties and citizens were given the opportunity to nominate their candidates. It is not forbidden to hold pickets, and meetings with voters are held on a notification basis. "Thus, the issue is not with political prisoners or electoral legislation. The issue is that they do not like the government, the parliament, the President. They do not like that the republic is integrating with Russia, the Customs Union, the Single Economic Space have been created, the Eurasian Union is being created. They do not like that Belarus lives by its own laws. We are a sovereign state, we have our own Constitution, our own laws, we have the right to conduct an independent domestic and foreign policy based on the will of the people," said Vladimir Andreichenko. Belarus should be reckoned with, negotiated with, not given ultimatums, the Speaker of Parliament emphasized. -0-