BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
31/03/2008
Belarus Demands US Cuts More Diplomatic Staff In Row
MINSK (AFP)--Belarus on Monday demanded that the U.S. further reduce its diplomatic staff in a row over U.S. sanctions targeted at rights abuses in the ex-Soviet state.
The foreign ministry told the head of the U.S. mission Jonathan Moore that it had reduced the number of its diplomats working in Washington and requested the U.S. follow suit, a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
"The Republic of Belarus has decided to introduce additional reductions in the staff of its embassy in Washington," the spokesman said, citing a diplomatic note delivered to Moore on Monday.
"In accordance with article 11 of the Vienna Convention...the American side should reduce the number of its staff at the U.S. embassy in Minsk in the same number and timeframe."
The spokesman did not say how many diplomats were being withdrawn.
Last week the U.S. agreed to an earlier demand to reduce its staff by 10 to 17.
The spokesman said the move was a retaliation against the U.S. sanctions and " the limitation of contacts" with Belarus.
The Belarussian foreign ministry on March 7 asked the U.S. ambassador, Karen Stewart, to leave Minsk and ordered its own ambassador to Washington to return home to protest U.S. sanctions on Belarussian oil monopoly Belneftekhim.
Belarus said the sanctions were a "crude violation" of international law.
Stewart quit Belarus five days later.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the foreign assets of Belneftekhim to pressure the country's authoritarian leadership to allow democratic freedoms and release political prisoners.
Source:
Archive
