“Western Authorities Shut up Like Clam”: Minsk Waits for Apologies for Bear Drop
“In accordance with the international law this [the teddy bear incident] is a crime. We sent the correspondent request for legal aid to the Swedish authorities but did not receive an answer. The situation looks strange,” Foreign Ministry press-secretary Andrej Savinykh said today.
“In any case, Belarusian side has a moral right to expect at least apologies, and we will wait for a response to our request made in conformity with the international law and international procedures,” highlighted Savinykh.
According to him, the teddy bear drop complicated the Belarus–Sweden relations and partially Belarus–EU relations.
“It’s all clear in the incident with the Swedish aircraft: the crime was committed. But the silence is the answer, Western authorities shut up like a clam,” Andrej Savinykh said.
On July 4, a single-engine plane piloted by representatives of Sweden’s public relations agency Studio Total invaded Belarus’ airspace and dropped hundreds of teddy bears with “pro-free speech” signs on the town of Ivianets and Minsk before flying back to Lithuania unhindered.