BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/08/2006

Belarus boots out Latvian diplomat on "porn charges"

Source ::: AFP

RIGA Latvia yesterday gave a diplomat from Belarus 24 hours to leave the Baltic state, in an apparent tit-for-tat action after the authorities in Minsk accused a Latvian embassy official of distributing pornography.

The first secretary of the Belarus embassy in Riga 'has been declared persona non grata for actions not in accordance with his status as a diplomat' and was being expelled, the Latvian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The decision to expel the Belarussian, identified by the Baltic News Service (BNS) as Dmitry Krayushkin, comes a week after the authorities in Minsk raided the apartment of Latvian diplomat Reimo Smits and seized some of his belongings.

Latvia immediately filed a complaint with Minsk, saying the raid violated the terms of the 1961 Vienna Convention, which covers diplomatic relations.

On Sunday, the diplomatic row heated up to fever pitch when Belarus state television aired video footage showing a sexual act between two men, claiming it had been shot with a hidden camera at the apartment of the Latvian diplomat.

In Belarus, homosexuality is a crime, just as it was in the Soviet Union,' Latvian Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks said yesterday, adding that the Belarussians' claims that Smits had pornographic material in his apartment was yet another 'rude provocation' on the part of Belarus.

'For the past week, the Belarussian side has launched an unprecedented series of provocations not only against the Latvian diplomat and state, but also against the fundamental values of the European Union,' Pabriks said.

'We have received no explanation as to why our diplomat's house was searched. We have appraised the actions of the Belarus embassy and concluded that some of their actions are improper for diplomats,' he added, without giving details.

Pabriks also said Latvia's role as an EU envoy in Belarus during the recently ended Austrian presidency of the bloc could have sparked the 'provocations' from Minsk.

Earlier, Pabriks refused to meet the recently accredited Belarussian Ambassador to Riga, Alexander Gerasimenko, demanding that Minsk provide an explanation by next week for the incidents involving Smits.

Pabriks urged Belarus to 'muster enough common sense' to give a suitable explanation for the breaches of diplomatic protocol.

He also said that Gerasimenko was welcome to stay in Latvia, but his diplomatic role in the Baltic state would be 'stuck in a rut... because the Belarussians refuse to co-operate, even though embassies are created for the purpose of cooperation'.

Latvia and Belarus are both former Soviet republics, but the Baltic state regained independence in 1991 when the USSR crumbled. It joined the EU and NATO two years ago, while Belarus has remained firmly in Moscow's orbit.

Relations between Belarus, led with an iron fist since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, and its neighbours to the west turned particularly sour in March this year when the Baltic states, Poland and the Czech Republic, joined much of the international community and backed the Belarussian Opposition in presidential elections.

Attacks such as those against Smits are not new in Belarus, either.

Last year, a Czech diplomat was expelled from Belarus after he was 'caught' having a drink in a bar with a 16-year-old boy.

Belarussian television, which is tightly controlled by the government, has in the past denounced 'plots' against Lukashenko by Western diplomats, and accused the Opposition of 'political pedophilia'.

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