BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
19/03/2008
US ambassador says unsure if she returns to Belarus soon
WASHINGTON, March 19 (Itar-Tass) - U.S. ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart, whom Washington called off for consultations, said Tuesday she was not sure if she could return to Minsk any time soon, although the U.S. Administration hoped she would go back there soon enough.
Stewart said just a few days ago she hoped to return to Minsk in two or three weeks' time but now she indicated there was no confidence in this prospect.
She said that as far as she could see the situation, her return to Minsk would not be possible earlier than the Belarussian ambassador Mikhail Khvostov returned to the U.S.
Stewart said she was not expelled from Belarus but the government in Minsk told her that expulsion might be the next step if she refused to leave.
She said the U.S. Administration examines the Belarussian authorities' recommendation to cut down the number of U.S. diplomats at the embassy, although the Americans do not think that this demand is well-grounded.
Stewart reiterated Washington's readiness to take steps towards improving relations with Belarus after its government releases the people, whom Western quarters view as political prisoners.
Belarussian Foreign Ministry said March 7 it was calling off the ambassador to the U.S. for consultations in the wake of sanctions that the U.S. Administration had imposed on the petrochemical company Belneftekhim.
Simultaneously, the authorities offered Stewart to leave the country "for the same purpose."
Source:
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12491083&PageNum=0
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