BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

31/03/2008

Belarus urges more cuts at US Embassy

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - A diplomatic duel between Belarus and the U.S. is not letting up.

The former Soviet republic said Monday that it was making further staff cuts at its embassy in Washington and urged the U.S. to do the same at its already depleted mission in Minsk.

The U.S. ambassador left Belarus earlier this month and the U.S. Embassy cut its staff from 35 to 17 under pressure from the authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko's government.

Lukashenko wants the U.S. to lift sanctions imposed last year against its state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company, Belneftekhim.

The sanctions are part of a U.S. effort to punish the Belarusian leadership for its heavy-handed treatment of critics and intolerance of dissent. U.S. officials have called Lukashenko 'Europe's last dictator.'

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry summoned the top U.S. diplomat remaining in Minsk on Monday to urge further reductions in embassy staff.

'Belarus has taken a decision on additional reductions in personnel at its embassy in Washington,' the ministry said in a statement, adding that 'it has been proposed to the American side that it decrease the number of personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Minsk by the same number and in the same time period.'

It said the new steps were a response to the U.S. refusal to lift the sanctions against Belneftekhim and 'in light of the consistent line of the U.S. administration on reducing contacts with Belarus.'

The statement did not give specific numbers or a time frame, and ministry officials refused further comment.

The U.S. Embassy declined immediate comment.

The U.S. has also imposed travel sanctions on Lukashenko and other officials it accuses of involvement in persecution of independent media, political opponents and ordinary citizens in the nation of 10 million. It says the Belarusian government must release all inmates the U.S. considers political prisoners if it wants to improve ties.

Source:

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/03/31/afx4834690.html

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