The meeting of the Core Group of the Munich Security Conference in Minsk is in the top news of the world's leading media. And it is not surprising, that the forum brought together leaders of European states, prominent political figures, representatives of international organizations, the academic community. Dozens of foreign TV channels, publications and news agencies expressed interest in covering the conference. Among them are such major world and regional mass media as Reuters, TASS, Bloomberg, Washington Post, NBC, Deutsche Welle, Di Zeit.
“A place for new consultations could hardly have been chosen more symbolically. The mighty Palace of Independence in the center of Minsk. More than three years ago, a cease-fire agreement was concluded here in eastern Ukraine and thus the bloodshed stopped for at least a short time.”
This is how journalists of RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland begin their material published in most of the major regional newspapers in northern and eastern Germany. The results of the forum were summed up by the official website of the Munich Conference. Leitmotif: Minsk is a new Geneva, and conflicts should be resolved together.
"The city is not only located in the geopolitical center of Europe, but also has its history as a place for concentrating international efforts to resolve conflicts and crises: the" new Geneva" as some participants put it."
The event was extensively covered by journalists from the Russian version of Deutsche Welle. “The dialogue in Minsk is an attempt to restore trust between the East and the West”, “Wolfgang Ischinger is convinced of the solvability of the Ukrainian conflict”. Special attention is paid to the opinion of the chairman of the forum and the speech of the Belarusian leader at the forum.
"MSC would not have chosen a better place to organize a meeting this year. Minsk has a long history as a place for international efforts to resolve conflicts and crises."
“Lukashenko reminded of the Belarusian initiative“ Helsinki-2 ”last year. He stressed that it’s not a question of abandoning the current security system, but in conditions when this system fails, measures must be taken to restore its effective operation.”
The speech of the Head of the Belarusian State was widely spread in the Ukrainian information space. The Ukrainian media also cites statements by the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, who noted: "The innovative proposals that were made yesterday by President Lukashenko can give a new impetus to the negotiation process and fill it with energy."
The comments of a number of analysts and political experts were regularly cited by the Ukrainian TV channel 112. The main accent is the choice of Minsk as the venue for such a significant international meeting demonstrates the growing activity of Belarusian diplomacy and recognition of Belarus’s role in efforts to resolve the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. And Belarus becomes a bridge between the East and the West.
Statements by Alexander Lukashenko at the opening of the conference were quoted by Russian news agencies and network resources: Izvestia, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moskovsky Komsomolets, RBC, RIA Novosti, TASS, the country's leading TV channels: NTV, MIR, Channel Five, RenTV:
"Minsk is ready to support peace on the border of Russia and Ukraine, as well as to assist in holding elections in the unrecognized republics."
“Lukashenko noted that Belarus is ready to ensure peace in the East of Ukraine, as well as exercise control on the border with the Russian Federation and hold the elections in Donbass.”
Traditionally, the response from such forums is huge. And that means that the words Minsk and security will coexist for a long time in the headlines of world news.
