BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
19/03/2008
Under pressure, US Embassy in Belarus stops issuing visas
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Embassy in Belarus, which is working under a Belarusian government threat to expel some of its staff, has stopped issuing visas, the State Department said Wednesday.
The embassy in Minsk, the Belarus capital, announced the action on its Web site. A department spokesman in Washington confirmed that the suspension was "forced by the situation on the ground."
Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko's government has asked the Americans to withdraw some of its 35 diplomats to avoid expulsions.
Ambassador Karen Stewart already returned to Washington under pressure from the Belarusian government. She told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she had no immediate plan to return and was unsure she would be allowed back if she did.
In Minsk, the embassy's consular section posted a notice Wednesday that "visa processing has been temporarily suspended while our resources are engaged addressing other priorities."
It said the U.S. government was reviewing Belarus' request received Wednesday that the U.S. staff be reduced. "Some visa appointments have been postponed," the embassy posting said. "Further information will be provided once the extent of the U.S. Embassy's ability to provide visa services in Belarus has been determined."
In Washington, a State Department spokesman confirmed that no decision has been made about recalling staff. The embassy has "suspended issuing visas temporarily due to staffing issues forced by the situation on the ground," the spokesman said. He spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has cited U.S. sanctions against both the government and Lukashenko and other government officials personally as the spark for it request that Stewart leave. She was not expelled. The ministry also has not named specific staffers whom it wants to leave.
U.S. sanctions are against Belarus' state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company, Belneftekhim. Last year the United States froze the company's assets and barred American companies from doing business with it.
The United States also has said relations cannot improve until the Belarusian government has released prisoners who Washington deems are being held on political charges. Several opposition figures have been released since the start of the year in what Lukashenko called "an unprecedented step of good will toward the West."
Source:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/19/america/NA-GEN-US-Belarus.php
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