Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said that Minsk will be ready for retaliatory measures if the sanctions confrontation from the West does not stop.
“We hope that common sense will prevail and this sanctions confrontation will end. If it does not stop, we will continue to defend our economic interests: if we are harmed, we will be forced to harm those who attack us,” Golovchenko said in an interview with the TV channel “Peace”.
The Prime Minister stressed that the imposition of sanctions by the West did not cause confusion or anxiety in the republic. According to him, Minsk was preparing for the announced restrictions, carried out certain internal transformations and studied the experience of Russia’s response to Western sanctions. “The help and experience of our Russian colleagues also helped us to cope with these issues,” he said.
According to Golovchenko, the decision to introduce a food embargo on the import of certain positions of Western goods into Belarus from January 1 is not a final measure, but one of the elements of a prepared response, that is, there are other measures.
However, the prime minister stressed that Belarus does not want to “fight” with anyone, but if it is attacked, it always responds.
At the same time, Golovchenko said that despite Western sanctions, European business is interested not only in maintaining, but also in developing economic ties with Belarusian enterprises. “They constantly give us signals about this at different sites. And, to put it mildly, they speak impartially about their politicians. Therefore, the demand and desire to work with us, including from European business, is high,” he stressed.
