BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
19/03/2008
Belarus lawmaker accuses U.S. Embassy of breaking intl rules
MINSK. March 19 (Interfax) - A member of Belarus' parliament has defended a request by the Belarusian government that the United States reduce the staff of its embassy in Belarus and has chided the United States for suspending the issue of entry visas to Belarusians.
"The staff of the Belarusian Embassy in Washington does not brief the local opposition or take part in anti-government actions by U.S. citizens whereas they [the U.S. Embassy in Minsk] exceed the limits of accepted international rules on staying in a country. This means they have too many officials who have nothing to do here," Nikolai Cherginets, head of the upper house commission on international affairs and national security, told Interfax on Wednesday.
Cherginets also attacked the United States for suspending the processing of visa applications from Belarusians.
Earlier, the U.S. Embassy said in an announcement: "The U.S. Government is in the process of reviewing the request made by the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 17 that the U.S. Embassy in Minsk reduce its staffing. Therefore, visa processing has been temporarily suspended while our resources are engaged addressing other priorities."
"Suspending the issue of visas because of other priorities can give rise to nothing else than surprise," Cherginets said. "What other priorities can there be in the country where [an embassy is posted] than developing relations, including by visa support for mutual trips by citizens?"
Cherginets said the true purpose of the U.S. stance is to "pressure Belarus and deepen the crisis in the relations."
"Eventually level-headedness will take the upper hand, a calm tone will prevail and a time of negotiations and discussions on problems will come," he said. "One would wish the American side realized this more quickly."
On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart, who is currently in Washington, said the United States was trying to find out the reason for the Belarusian request for an embassy staff cut.
Stewart surmised that the Belarusian government wanted the U.S. Embassy to have the same number of staff as the Belarusian Embassy in the United States. However, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations does not prescribe such parity, she argued.
Source:
http://www.interfax.com/3/376180/news.aspx
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