European ambassadors to Belarus prepared to leave yesterday after their recall by the EU, in a move that threatens to plunge the former Soviet republic into even deeper isolation.
The recall by EU member states of all their ambassadors came after an unusual move by Minsk advising the EU and Polish envoys to return to their own capitals for consultations.
Belarus did not state explicitly that it was expelling the Polish and EU envoys, but EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that all European ambassadors would return home in an “expression of solidarity.”
“The [Polish] foreign ministry instructed ambassador [Leszek Szarepka) to leave in 24 hours,” a source in the Polish embassy said.
Belarussian Foreign Minister Andrei Savinykh shrugged off the move, saying it was a “positive” step “if the ambassadors inform their capitals of Belarus’ position that EU policy on Belarus has no prospects.”
The EU yesterday published a blacklist for travel to the EU of 21 judges, prosecutors and police officials said to be in charge of repression after post-election mass protests shook Minsk in December 2010.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has become increasingly isolated from the West after a crackdown against his opponents that followed his re-election in disputed presidential polls that December.
“If somebody in Europe still thinks that we can be bent by sanctions, reprimands and demands — that is a road to nowhere,” Lukashenko said last week to the ambassadors of Luxembourg and Norway.
The opposition, however, called Lukashenko’s position misguided.
“[The recall] will make Lukashenko even more dependent on Russia,” said opposition politician Vladimir Nekliayev, the strongman’s former challenger in the polls.
“Belarus is not in a position to dictate to anyone by demonstrating force,” he said.
Lukashenko has led Belarus since 1994, retaining Soviet-style controls over the economy and cracking down on opposition and independent media. Despite his support from Russia, Lukashenko has accused Moscow of angling to grab Belarusian economic assets and erode his country’s sovereignty.
Stanislav Shushkevich, his predecessor, said Tuesday’s moves appeared to signal a step-up in repression.
“Lukashenko needs confrontation with the EU in order to be unhindered in putting more political prisoners in jail,” he said.
The Belarussian leader is the focus of increasing dissent at home amid an economic crisis that has gripped the country for most of the past year, in which the ruble’s value has fallen by more than a third. As the crisis deepened, Belarus sold full control of the country’s natural gas pipeline network to Russia’s state gas monopoly.
Belarus has previously expelled diplomats and used other pressure tactics to punish foreign powers for what it claims are attempts to interfere with its sovereignty.
Belarus expelled the US ambassador in 2008 — the embassy is now led by an interim charge d’affaires. Soon after the disputed presidential election it ordered the closure of the local office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the group whose observers were critical of the election.
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