BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/04/2008

Belarus Expels 10 US Diplomats

MINSK, Belarus, April 30-- Ten US diplomats are to leave Belarus within 72 hours on the orders of the ex-Soviet state's authorities, the US charge d'affaires said on Wednesday.

Jonathan Moore told reporters after being summoned to the ministry: "The foreign ministry provided a list of 10 diplomats which must leave the country in the course of 72 hours." He said 15 diplomats were now in Minsk.

Moore said the embassy would do everything possible so that the US diplomats leave the country within the required time limit.

Belarus has reduced diplomatic staff at its Washington embassy to six people, including the ambassador, and has demanded that the US embassy in Minsk do the same, the statement said.

The US embassy earlier fulfilled a request to reduce its diplomatic staff from 32 to 17.

The reductions, which included the expulsion of US Ambassador Karen Stewart, were undertaken in protest at US economic sanctions against domestic oil monopoly Belneftekhim that Belarus says violate international law.

The US - along with the EU- has restricted the travel of President Alexander Lukashenko and members of his inner circle, as well as imposing broader economic sanctions.

In his annual address to the nation on Tuesday, Lukashenko expressed defiance over pressure from the US and EU.

"If the Americans introduce new sanctions and think we will collapse, that's rubbish," he said.

Washington imposed the sanctions under the pretext of putting pressure on the country's authoritarian leadership to allow democratic freedoms and release political prisoners.

Source:

http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=032030120080430210430

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