BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

13/03/2008

Ministry Says It Asked U.S. Ambassador To Leave Belarus

Andrey Papou, a spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, said on March 12 that U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart has left the country at the ministry's request, Belapan reported. "The departure of the U.S. ambassador took place after Stewart was once again invited to a meeting at the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on March 11, where she was for the second time asked to follow the pressing recommendations of our country's government," Papou said. Minsk recently recalled its ambassador to the United States, Mikhail Khvastou, for consultations in response to U.S. Treasury Department sanctions imposed in November 2007 on Belarus's largest petrochemical company, Belnaftakhim. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry also "urgently recommended" that Stewart leave Minsk "for the same purpose," but the U.S. State Department initially announced that Washington did not intend to recall its ambassador. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on March 12 confirmed that Stewart is returning to Washington for consultations. "We expect that after her consultations have been completed, she would return to Belarus," McCormack said. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/03/3-cee/cee-130308.asp

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