10 U.S. diplomats to leave Belarus, says U.S. charge d'affaires

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-01 00:32:52

MOSCOW, April 30 (Xinhua) --

U.S. charge d'affaires in Belarus Jonathan Moore said Wednesday that 10 U.S. diplomats will leave the former Soviet republic within 72 hours under the requests of Belarus' authorities, news agencies reported.

"We will do everything possible so that the U.S. diplomats leave the country within the required time limit," Moore was quoted as telling a news conference after being summoned to the Belorussian foreign ministry.

The Belarussian Foreign Ministry asked the U.S. embassy to cut its staff to five plus the ambassador, the reports said.

Moore was also given a list of U.S. diplomats who have been declared personae non grata and will have to leave the country.

Belarus' decision to expel 10 U.S. diplomats was "unjustified and unwarranted," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"We are considering our response to this action," McCormack said.

U.S.-Belarussian relations have been tense since Washington imposed new sanctions against Belarus' oil firm Belneftekhim last November.

On Belarus' advice, the U.S. embassy in Minsk has cut staff in March after Belarus recalled its ambassador and shrank its diplomatic mission in Washington.

Belarus requests U.S. diplomats to leave

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-01 00:53:15

MOSCOW, April 30 (Xinhua) --

Belarus Wednesday declared a number of U.S. diplomats unwelcome and requested them to leave the former Soviet republic, Russian news agencies reported.

The Belarussian Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. charge d'affaires Jonathan Moore Wednesday and asked the United States to cut its staff to five plus the ambassador, the reports said.

Moore was also given a list of U.S. diplomats who have been declared personae non gratae and will have to leave the country.

U.S.-Belarussian relations have been tense since Washington imposed new sanctions against Belaruss' oil firm Belneftekhim last November.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.