BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/12/2006

Belarus bans entrance to German diplomat

Minsk (dpa) - Belarus' authoritarian government on Tuesday banned entrance to a German diplomat.

Officials at the Belarusian Foreign Ministry declined to explain why they had refused a visa to Holger Kraemer, citing "international diplomatic practice."

Kraemer currently is employed at the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin. He is well known among members of the Belarusian opposition for his frequent presence at anti-government demonstrations during a tour of service with the Germany embassy in Minsk from 2000 to 2004.

Belarus' President Aleksander Lukashenko, a supporter of Soviet-style government, has poor relations with European Union nations including Germany.

Western diplomats stationed in Belarus are routinely tailed by the Belarusian KGB. During the late 1990s Lukashenko evicted most foreign diplomats from Minsk housing, claiming they were using their apartments as bases for espionage. // c 2006 DPA

Source:

http://politicom.moldova.org/stiri/eng/21888/