Lukashenko says OSCE redundant
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is of no avail either for West or for East.
"The problem is that the organization reflected the West and US interests when a powerful Soviet Union countered them. They no longer need this organization. Since the OSCE is not fulfilling its functions, it is of no avail for us either," Lukashenko told reporters in Minsk on Tuesday.
"Such an organization would be in demand if it complied with the declared goals," he said.
The OSCE was once formed as an organization for security and cooperation in Europe, he said. "However, it is not dealing with security issues at all today, while the cooperation proclaimed aims to split and confuse," Lukashenko said.
"What cooperation do they mean when they come to Belarus ahead of the [2012 parliamentary] elections and bring along a ready-made report that the OSCE only voices? The same refers to Ukraine. They brought in ready-made accounts that the OSCE later voiced, although democracy is on the loose in Ukraine. Think of all the things Ukraine did to please the OSCE and West," Lukashenko said.
The OSCE has no unified election standards, he went on to say. "Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, and Ukraine as well, keep insisting that such unified standards be developed. There are none. And everyone is free to offer any loose interpretation of them," Lukashenko said.
"CIS [observers] are guided by the criteria that are clearer to us, and they work out well," he said.
"Their assessments are diametrically opposed to those of the OSCE, because the OSCE is trying to impose its non-existent standards on us and because they are politicized," he said. As an example, Lukashenko cited the United States "positioning itself as the stronghold of democracy." "We will arrest you the moment you step in, the U.S. tells international observers. Now what if we did the same? We did not arrest them, did we?" the Belarusian president said.
"OSCE observers have even usurped the right to count our votes, which is an instance of double and even triple standards, which is unacceptable," he said.
"The situation in which we pursue a policy reflecting our citizens' interests, maintaining our independence, does not suit the West. But then, he said, one should not be overly vexed by the West's judgments about Belarus. "They will keep attacking us and getting on our nerves until their men come to power. In that case the situation would look 'democratic.' That is the problem. So we should take it easy," Lukashenko said.
"We must go on building our life and rebuff the attacks of those who want to derail this normal movement and our work in citizens' interests," the Belarusian president said.