BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/05/2008

Belarus missions in U.S. given reprieve

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON: The United States abruptly backed down on a decision to order the closure of the Belarusian Embassy in Washington and the consulate in New York just minutes before American diplomats were to inform Belarus of the move on Thursday, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. State Department had planned to notify Belarus of the decision, which had been approved by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, in both Washington and Minsk. But officials said they were instructed not to do so at the last minute.

The change in plan was made as a meeting between U.S. and Belarusian diplomats was under way, the officials said.

Instead, a State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said the diplomats had warned that such steps were still possible as Washington continued to explore ways to retaliate for Belarus's expulsion of most staff members at the U.S. Embassy in Minsk.

"We told them we would comply with the expulsion order, and we warned them that there is a range of actions that we can take," Casey said. "We have to consider whether, after drawing down our staff, we can effectively operate there."

He would not elaborate on what measures might be taken.

But orders had been prepared to tell Belarus that it had until May 16 to withdraw its six diplomats at its missions in Washington and New York, officials said. At the same time, Belarus was to have been told that the U.S. Embassy in Minsk would shut down as early as Friday, they said.

Planning for the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Minsk had been under discussion for some time and had reached the stage of securing a third country to serve as a "protecting power" to represent the United States in Belarus, the officials said.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/01/europe/belarus.php

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