BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
18/03/2008
US Envoy: US Set To Bow To Belarus Call For Embassy Cuts
WASHINGTON (AFP)--Washington is likely to bow to Belarus' call to cut its embassy staff in Minsk to avoid breaking diplomatic ties altogether amid a row over sanctions, the U.S. ambassador to Minsk said Tuesday.
"At this stage, having considered everything, I think it is very important to keep an embassy there," Karen Stewart told AFP when asked if the U.S. would respond to Minsk's demands or risk seeing the mission closed.
Stewart left the ex-Soviet state last week on what the embassy said was a " temporary" basis after Belarus recommended she depart amid a diplomatic row over U.S. economic sanctions on Belarussian oil monopoly Belneftekhim.
Belarus also recalled its own ambassador to Washington, and on Monday asked the U.S. to further reduce its embassy staff in the country.
Stewart said it wanted equal numbers of diplomats working at the U.S. embassy in Minsk, where there are about 35 staff, and in the Belarussian embassy in Washington, which employs about 20.
She said the staff issue should be resolved next week, adding: "It is a meaningful cut because we feel like we don't have an overstaffed embassy.
"We think we are staffed for what is right and appropriate for the responsibilities we have there and for our security concerns. This includes our security people, our Marine Guards and all that."
Concerning the departure of Belarussian ambassador Mikhail Khovostov from the U.S., she said: "We hope he will come back and he is welcome too. There is nothing on our side to keep him from coming."
Belarus has become increasingly authoritarian under President Alexander Lukashenko, who has stamped out dissent against his rule since coming to power in 1994, and Washington has dubbed it "Europe's last dictatorship."
The U.S. sanctions on Belneftekhim's foreign assets aim to put pressure on the administration to allow democratic freedoms and release political prisoners. Belarus said they were a "crude violation" of international law.
Source:
Archive
