State Security Committee chairman Ivan Tertel, after reporting to Alyaksandr Lukashenka, voiced a number of claims against Lithuania and the United Kingdom.
Tertel repeated a thesis of Belarusian state propaganda that the imposition of sanctions against Minsk constitutes a violation of the Budapest Memorandum.
“The degradation of international law began, in our assessment, including with the nullification of the so-called well-known Budapest agreements. Belarus was given guarantees by the United States, direct guarantees by London and Paris that no sanctions would be applied, including economic ones. We remember that such an agreement existed for a very short time, and the sanctions regime was applied against Belarus in an absolutely illegal manner, in violation of it,” he said.
He also listed claims against Lithuania, some of which had previously been voiced by Lukashenka himself.
“This is effectively the confiscation of our assets at the port of Klaipėda. Problems with our sanatorium in Druskininkai, where children affected by the Chernobyl disaster receive treatment. The seizure of firefighting and other equipment that was purchased by other countries in the interests of ensuring public safety,” he said.
Tertel accused the United Kingdom of confiscating Belarusian assets.
“These are measures that the United Kingdom implemented with regard to Belarus’s gold and foreign exchange reserves. When, I stress, in 2020 London took a decision — absolutely illegal — effectively to confiscate our reserves, which are currently estimated at $1.5 billion.
This is an absolutely illegal decision, which has now become a starting point for reflection for many Arab states and CIS countries: whether to invest in the British economy or not. Unfortunately, this practice continues, and we consider it outright theft, an example for others of what should not be done,” he said.