BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/03/2008

Belarus asks American envoy to leave country

By Peter Finn
Washington Post

Move is response to US sanctions

MOSCOW - Belarus said yesterday that the US ambassador should leave the country, a response to sanctions that the United States has imposed on the former Soviet republic because of the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko.

"Belarus emphatically recommends that US Ambassador Karen Stewart leave our country," the Belarusan Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website. Belarus also recalled its ambassador from Washington.

US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the United States was "deeply disappointed" by the statement. "If they do not wish our ambassador to remain in country, our ambassador will leave," Casey said. "They have said they are recalling their ambassador, which is a very good thing, because their ambassador would certainly not be welcome here."

Belarus's moves were in protest of sanctions imposed on the state oil company, Belneftekhim, which the United States charges is personally controlled by Lukashenko. In November, the Treasury Department froze the company's US assets and barred Americans from doing business with it.

After those actions, Lukashenko said that if there were any more sanctions, Stewart would be expelled.

The Reuters news agency quoted a source close to Belarus's government as saying that yesterday's action followed a US note on the November sanctions that "allowed for a broad interpretation of a list of firms linked to Belneftekhim. The Belarusan side viewed that as additional sanctions."

It was unclear when Stewart would leave Minsk, capital of the country of 10 million people sandwiched between Russia and Poland. The Belarusan Foreign Ministry said yesterday's steps are only two of a number of "tough moves" that Belarus plans, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

After flawed presidential elections in March 2006, the United States and the European Union barred Lukashenko and about 30 other Belarusan officials from entering their territories. The travel ban was widened last year to include directors and deputy directors at state-owned enterprises.

The 2006 vote was followed by a violent crackdown on people who protested Lukashenko's ostensibly huge victory.

Source:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/03/08/belarus_asks_american_envoy_to_leave_country/

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