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Minsk Does Not Want EU Diplomats Back

March 23, 2012

by RFE/RL's Belarus Service

Officials in Minsk have said that there is no need for the European Union member states' ambassadors to return.

The EU ambassadors withdrew from Belarus last month in a row over the EU's use of sanctions to punish Minsk over its human rights record.

Earlier on March 23, EU foreign ministers slapped an asset freeze and visa sanction on 12 more Belarus officials, seeking to increase the pressure on the government for its "continued lack of respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law."

Over 200 Belarusian officials now face such EU sanctions.

Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Savinykh told RFE/RL that the “Belarusian side does not consider necessary the presence on its territory of the withdrawn ambassadors of the states that voted for this decision [on sanctions]."

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/minsk_does_not_want_eu_diplomats_back/24525375.html

Copyright (c) 2012. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.