France’s ambassador to Belarus has left the country after authorities in Minsk demanded he leave by yesterday, the embassy said.
A spokeswoman for the French embassy who made the announcement did not say why the Belarusian authorities told him to leave.
According to Belarusian media reports, Nicolas de Lacoste was expelled because he never met Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to give him copies of his credentials.
Photo: Reuters
Instead, he gave them to Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei, the French embassy said.
Lukashenko took that as a snub, the media reported.
“The Belarusian foreign ministry demanded that the ambassador leave before Oct. 18,” the spokeswoman said, adding that “ambassador Nicolas de Lacoste left Belarus today.”
“He said goodbye to the staff of the embassy and recorded a video message to the Belarusian people, which will appear tomorrow morning on the embassy’s Web site,” she said.
France, like other EU countries, has not recognized Lukashenko’s claim to a sixth presidential term in disputed elections in August last year. The EU and the US have imposed waves of sanctions on his regime over a post-vote crackdown on dissent in Belarus after the country erupted in historic protests against his rule.
The 67-year-old leader, who has accused Western governments of having instigated the protests in the hope of fomenting a revolution, has so far withstood the penalties with the backing of ally and creditor Moscow.
Minsk has cut ties with other Western envoys in the past few months. In March, it expelled the entire staff of Latvia’s embassy, including the ambassador, after Latvian authorities used a Belarusian opposition flag at an ice hockey championship.
In August, Minsk revoked the consent for the appointment of the US ambassador — career diplomat Julie Fisher, who was in December last year confirmed as the first US envoy to the ex-Soviet country since 2008.
Lukashenko has since put down the demonstrations against his rule, with the authorities jailing hundreds of protesters and closing dozens of independent media outlets and non-governmental organizations.
All of the country’s top opposition leaders are either in prison or have fled the country.
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