Reacties op uitzetten ambassadeurs door Wit-Rusland (en)
BRUSSELS - Belarus has effectively kicked out the EU and Polish ambassadors to Minsk, with the Union considering diplomatic counter-measures.
The Belarusian foreign ministry made the announcement on its website on Tuesday (28 February) - one day after the Union imposed sanctions on 21 jurists and policemen said to have mistreated opposition activists and amid talk of blacklisting President Alexander Lukashenko's ice hockey buddy and regime bankroller, oligarch Yuriy Chizh, in March.
Its press release said: "In response, the Belarusian side will close the entry to Belarus to those of the European Union which contributed to the introduction of restrictive measures."
It also said that Minsk has pulled back its envoys from Brussels and Warsaw (a leading proponent of sanctions) and "suggested" that the EU and Polish ambassadors in Minsk should hold "consultations" with their ministries back home.
A Minsk-based ambassador from one EU country told this website: "This is what they promised to do earlier."
He added: "They didn't call it 'expulsion.' It's one step lower. But I guess the EU ambassador will be recalled to Brussels otherwise they will expel her. The same thing happened in 2008 with the US ambassador."
The speaker of the Polish parliament Grzegorz Schetyna told press in Warsaw he expects "solidarity" from other EU countries on the matter. The Polish foreign ministry said it is "an unfriendly act against the whole Union."
For her part, EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton in Brussels called a snap meeting of her EU crisis group, the Political and Security Committee, to discuss potential reactions.
An EU diplomat told EUobserver she earlier told foreign and EU affairs ministers gathered in Brussels for a separate council meeting that she is keen for all EU countries to recall their envoys from Minsk.
At least one large member state swiftly said it would not recall its envoy, however.
Meanwhile, EU neighbourhood commissioner Stefan Fuele told press in the EU capital that the whole affair is a distraction from the real issue - how to get Belarus to free political prisoners.