UN General Assembly
1991

At the present time we are re-analysing the problem of integrating Belarus into the Helsinki process. If Belarus, particularly in its dire post-Chernobyl situation, becomes a site for the deployment of large numbers of armaments and armies withdrawn from Central and Eastern Europe, should we not have a say in the military decisions being taken during this process? If human rights and the exercise of them in our territory are to be determined from now by the laws of Belarus and not any other acts, should we not too participate in the fashioning of the contents of the Helsinki humanitarian basket? If the economic realities for the existence of an 11-million-strong nation, including settling foreign trade problems, are now to be determined by decisions taken in Minsk, should not the capital of Belarus participate directly in fashioning the common economic space in Europe?