BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
25/03/2008
US to trim embassy staff in Minsk
The United States may cut the number of staff at its embassy in Belarus amid allegations that the US is organizing a spy ring in Minsk.
"We hereby confirm that the information about this group being exposed is completely true," said a representative of the service, which has kept its Soviet-era Russian name of KGB.
"A group conducting espionage for the United States has been uncovered," He added.
State television had reported last weekend that a spying network made up of 10 operative, all Belarusian nationals, had been exposed.
The US embassy issued a statement denying the allegations and US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed that staff would be reduced in the ex-Soviet state.
The cut is aimed at making the number of diplomatic officers representing either country equal.
Tensions between the US and the ex-Soviet nation increased following Washington's imposition of sanctions last year on the state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company Belneftekhim.
Source:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=48916§ionid=3510203
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