BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/06/2006

Belarus Hits Back Against US, EU With Entry Ban For Officials

by RIA Novosti

MINSK, June 8 -- Belarus has prepared a black list of foreign officials who will be denied entry to the country, the Belarusian foreign ministry said Thursday.

Ministry spokesperson Andrei Popov said the move was a "symmetric response" following decisions by the European Union and the United States to ban Belarus state officials.

"This [the ban] applies to officials from the EU, the U.S. and other countries that officially supported restrictions on the entry of Belarus officials into ... the EU and the U.S," he said.

The U.S. and 25 EU member states imposed an entry ban on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and other top Belarusian officials following Lukashenko's landslide victory in a presidential election in March that international observers and the domestic opposition said was flawed.

Source:

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/security/article_21222441.shtml