BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/05/2008

US orders Belarus embassy closed in widening diplomatic rift

By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The State Department on Thursday ordered Belarus to close its embassy in Washington and its consulate in New York and will shut down the U.S. Embassy in the Belarusian capital in a new escalation of a diplomatic dispute.

Belarus has been given until May 16 to withdraw its six diplomats at the two missions and the American embassy in Minsk will cease operations as early as Friday, officials told the Associated Press. The move is just a step short of severing diplomatic relations and is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat exchanges with the former Soviet republic.

The officials said that Belarus was notified of the decision in simultaneous meetings between U.S. and Belarusian diplomats in Washington and Minsk at 10 a.m. EDT. They spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement of the step expected later Thursday.

The United States is one of the fiercest critics of Belarus' authoritarian president, and relations have deteriorated notably this year amid pressure from Washington for Belarus to release political prisoners or face punitive sanctions. Belarus on Wednesday ordered most of the U.S. Embassy staff in Minsk to leave the country in 72 hours.

The U.S. ambassador left Minsk in March after Belarus pulled its ambassador from Washington. The U.S. embassy in Minsk was being forced to cut its staff in half to four and the officials said the mission would not be able to function with such a small number of personnel.

The officials said that arrangements were being made with a third country to assume "protecting power" responsibilities for the U.S. interests in Belarus, most notably looking after the care of an ailing American lawyer who is currently in Belarusian custody.

Relations between Minsk and Washington have spiraled downward in recent months, mainly because of the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on a state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company, Belneftekhim.

The sanctions are designed to punish President Alexander Lukashenko's government for its heavy-handed treatment of critics and intolerance of dissent.

Source:

http://www.kansas.com/514/story/390290.html

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