BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/03/2008

US Embassy in Minsk to Cut Staff

MINSK, Belarus, March 25--The United States will bow to Belarus' call to cut its embassy staff in Minsk, acting head of mission Jonathan Moore said in a statement Monday.

The embassy currently has 38 employees, a diplomatic source said.

Earlier this month, the Belarusian foreign ministry asked Ambassador Karen Stewart to leave Minsk and ordered its own ambassador to Washington to return home in protest at US sanctions on Belarusian oil monopoly Belneftekhim.

Belarus said the sanctions were a "crude violation" of international law.

Monday's announcement came a day after Belarusian television aired a report that accused an embassy official of spying, in a row that echoes the diplomatic tussles of the Cold War era.

The news program said the official had recruited ten Byelorussians.

The US has imposed sanctions on the foreign assets of Belneftekhim under the pretext of putting pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko's regime to allow alleged democratic freedoms and release political prisoners.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack issued a statement regretting the reduction of staff in Minsk, which means a temporary halt to on-site processing of visa applications.

The embassy will also have to close several "American corners" in local libraries that offer information about the US, it added.

"The unfortunate actions by the Belarus authorities demonstrate that Belarus has taken a path of confrontation and isolation rather than a path of engagement and democratic reform," the statement said.

Source:

http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=032030120080325124327

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