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[EXCERPT] STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, MARCH 25, 1997

BELARUS -- U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Kenneth Yalowitz has been recalled to Washington "for consultations," Dinger said. Yalowitz is expected to arrive in Washington March 27; no date has been set for his return to Belarus.

Dinger said that U.S. diplomat Serge Aleksandrov has already left Belarus. The government of Belarus ordered Aleksandrov to leave within 24 hours after he was arrested at an opposition rally on March 23 and accused of spying for the Central Intelligence Agency. The U.S. Embassy said Aleksandrov was carrying out normal diplomatic duties by observing the protest events and accused the Belarusan government of "arbitrary and unjustified" action.

"There will be an appropriate response to the expulsion of Mr. Aleksandrov, which we hope to announce soon," Dinger said. "We are still considering a full range of possibilities." One of the options, he said, is the expulsion of a Belarusan diplomat assigned in the United States.

The expulsion of Aleksandrov, according to Dinger, is "the most egregious event of this type in less than two weeks." Two U.S. private citizens were detained March 14. Earlier this month another U.S. citizen, the local executive director for the Soros Foundation, was barred from entering Belarus and accused of supporting opposition political forces in Belarus against the government under President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
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