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Photo: Ukrinform
Ukraine will impose sanctions if at least one plane of the Belarusian airlines finds itself in the occupied Crimea.
The corresponding statement was made by the First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova, Ukrinform reports.
According to her, the Foreign Ministry “recorded the statements of Mr. Lukashenko regarding the appeal to Russian president Putin about the possible opening of flights to the occupied Crimea.”
Dzhaparova considers these statements to be provocative. She suggests that this is Lukashenko’s emotional reaction to Ukraine’s response, in particular, to the forced landing of a Ryanair plane at the Minsk airport.
“We will act against any attempts to legitimize the occupation of Crimea by Russia, against any attempts to establish contacts with the so-called “LPR” or “DPR”. And if at least one plane of the Belarusian airline finds itself on the territory of the occupied Crimea, sanctions will be inevitable with all the negative consequences”, Dzhaparova stressed.
The official also noted that the decision to restrict air traffic with Belarus is not a political, but a security issue, “after all, the actions of the Belarusian authorities are unpredictable, and we cannot assess in advance all the risks of being in the air space of Belarus”.
“And finally. These “provocations”, as Lukashenko put it, were not started by Ukraine, but by the Belarusian authorities, obviously, according to the Kremlin’s scenario. The more Lukashenko gets into Putin’s arms, the less chances Belarus has to remain a truly independent and sovereign state. Ordinary Belarusians, who are very close to us, are already suffering from Lukashenko’s rash and provocative actions. We treat them with great respect and solidarize with their efforts to defend their rights and freedoms”, – Dzaparova added.
Earlier, Belarus introduced an individual licensing regime for the import of a number of goods from Ukraine.
Besides, Ukraine has suspended flights to Belarus on May 26.
