It says that the Belarussian side views with indignation the attempts to use the upcoming competitions in Athens as the arena for political game. The Belarussian Foreign Ministry sees neither reason nor ground for denying visa to the head of the Belarussian Olympic delegation.
Yesin said that the statements of the EU chair country Holland and the press secretary of the Greek Foreign Ministry lack convincing proofs of Sivakov's unlawful activities.
"The use of the format of the Olympic Games for further political pressure on Belarus is counterproductive and is not conducive to the revival of the Belarus-EU political dialogue",
Belarus views such unfriendly actions regarding the Belarussian Olympic delegation extremely "negative, as an obvious and rude violation of all the principles of the Olympic movement, countering Olympic spirit and the norms of international relations", Yesin said. Serious apprehensions arise that politically motivated declarations and actions of EU member countries may split the international Olympic movement.
Ruslan Yesin said that his ministry got this information on August 6 from the Dutch representative in Brussels. Yesin voiced the hope that "the EU and the countries supporting this decision will revise their approach and take the right decision with regard to the head of the Belarussian Olympic delegation".
