7 minutes agoUkraine expels Belarusan diplomats
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has asked Belarus to cut to five diplomats at its embassy in Kiev. Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko told Radio Free Europe on 24 March that this decision was responding to a similar decision taken by Minsk one day [...]
Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko told Radio Free Europe on 24 March that this decision was responding to a similar decision taken by Minsk the day before.
The Belarusian government said on March 23rd that it would close the Ukrainian General Consulate, located in Brest, and ordered an undeposed number of Ukrainian diplomats to leave the embassy in Minsk as Belarus continues to assist the Ukrainian armed forces in their attacks against Ukraine.
Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatol Hlaz said the Ukrainian ambassador and four embassy workers would be allowed to stay in Belarus, while the rest of the staff would be forced to leave the country.
He said this decision was made due to Ukraine's numerous non-friendly “actions --” conducted over the years “in order to break down interstate reports” with Belarus.
A day before that decision, Belarus Security Service said at least ten workers of the Ukrainian Embassy almost half the staff of this mission were “members of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's intelligence directorate” and claimed they were involved in <x2-rescripting agents and collecting classified information”.
On March 19th, Belarus called for all members of Embassy staff to return to Kiev, prompting speculation that Belarus was preparing to send troops to Ukraine to assist the Russian armed forces.
Belarus has helped invade Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowing Russian troops to exploit Belarus's territory to launch attacks on Ukraine. / REL
