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Last Updated: May 5, 2008 - 7:38:00 AM |
Belarus on Wednesday had ordered 10 of the embassy's 11 diplomats to leave the
country, giving them 72 hours to comply.
All 11 left Saturday, an embassy official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The departures leave the embassy with just four U.S. staffers, down from 35 at
the start of the year. The U.S. ambassador left in March after Belarus pulled
its ambassador from Washington.
The U.S. State Department has warned Belarus it may order the Belarussian
embassy in Washington and the country's consulate in New York closed, and shut
down the U.S. Embassy in Minsk.
Washington is one of the fiercest critics of Belarus' authoritarian president,
Alexander Lukashenko, and is pressuring Belarus to release political prisoners
or face punitive sanctions.
Relations have worsened in recent months, mainly because of U.S. sanctions
imposed on a state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company,
Belneftekhim, as well as travel restrictions on Lukashenko and top government
officials.
The sanctions are designed to punish Lukashenko, whom U.S. officials routinely
describe as "Europe's last dictator," and his government for its
heavy-handed treatment of critics
.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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