BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
24/03/2008
Fewer US diplomats to stay in Minsk
MINSK, March 24 (Itar-Tass) - A number of US diplomats leave Belarus at the request of the Belarusian side.
"US charge d'affairs in Belarus Jonathan Moore who was called to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on Monday said that at the request of the Belarusian side for equalizing on a parity basis the number of officials of the diplomatic missions of Belarus and the United States on each other' s territories, the corresponding number of US diplomats leave Belarus," the republic's Foreign Ministry noted.
On March 7, Minsk recalled its ambassador from the United States and suggested that the US ambassador to Belarus would also leave the republic for consultations. On March 12, US ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart left for Washington, and on March 17, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry suggested that the staff of the US embassy in Minsk be reduced.
Andrei Popov, the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, said there is the need to equalize on a parity basis the level of the presence of US diplomats in Belarus, and, respectively, of Belarusian diplomats in the United States. "The Vienna Convention offers such opportunities full well," Popov then said.
Source:
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12510140&PageNum=0
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