18 April, Glubokoye / Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Belarus has taken into account the recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR and created all conditions for free elections. This viewpoint was expressed in a conversation with a BELTA correspondent by the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Andreichenko. Commenting on the calls by some opposition figures to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections, Vladimir Andreichenko stated that "elections must take place in accordance with the Constitution, and they will take place; there are absolutely no grounds for boycotting them." He considers the issues concerning so-called political prisoners and electoral legislation, which allegedly does not comply with European norms, to be far-fetched. "There are no political prisoners in Belarus; there are those who have committed criminal offenses, and all remarks by the OSCE/ODIHR have been taken into account in the electoral legislation," he declared. In the opinion of the Speaker, the calls to boycott the parliamentary elections, as well as the sanctions against sovereign Belarus, are caused by the fact that some EU states do not like that the country has chosen the path of integration with Russia and Kazakhstan, and that the country lives by its own laws. "We are a sovereign state and we respect ourselves," emphasized Vladimir Andreichenko. -0-

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