MINSK, 26 June (BelTA) – The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Ambassador of Ukraine to Belarus Igor Kyzym on 26 June. The ambassador was summoned after making biased statements for mass media about the Belarusian-Russian-Serbian army exercise Slavic Brotherhood 2017, the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BelTA.

The ambassador was told that his inappropriate remarks had failed to live up to the high level of Belarusian-Ukrainian friendly relations. The ambassador was told that his remarks groundlessly accused Belarus of failing to observe trust- and security-building measures in the OSCE region.

The ambassador's attention was drawn to the fact that the Slavic Brotherhood 2017 army exercise had been staged in full compliance with the international law and Belarus' commitments to the OSCE. Military attaches, including Ukraine's, were invited to observe the army exercise as purely a gesture of good will on the part of Belarus. The invitation testified to the high transparency of the army exercise.

In full compliance with the Belarusian head of state's initiative on creating a good neighborly belt Belarus has always demonstrated trust and openness in military affairs to Ukraine. “Upon our invitation military observers from Ukraine and other neighboring countries could watch active phases of all the main military exercises ranging from Neman 2001 to Zapad 2013. It is worth noting that in full compliance with our international commitments we could have chosen not to invite foreign observers to watch the exercises,” noted representatives of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meanwhile, in this period within the framework of the 2011 Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures Ukraine has never invited military observers from Belarus to watch the largest military operations in the Ukrainian territory. Apart from that, representatives of the office of the military attache of Belarus in Ukraine have not been invited to attend a single multinational or national army exercise in the Ukrainian territory since 2013.

The Belarusian side would like to resume the constructive dialogue in the sphere of defense and security in the region, the press service underlined.