Belarusian move to withdraw Polish, Lithuanian diplomats harms dialogue with EU - Borrell
EU foreign policy chief said that the EU continues to support the democratic right of the Belarusian people to elect their President through new free and fair elections
BRUSSELS, October 4. /TASS/. The Belarusian authorities’ decision to reduce diplomatic presence of Poland and Lithuania after the introduction of EU sanctions against the country is "against the logic" of dialogue with the European Union and further isolates Minsk, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on Sunday.
"The demand of the Belarusian authorities that Poland and Lithuania withdraw their ambassadors and significantly reduce their diplomatic representations in Minsk is unfounded and regrettable. It goes against the logic of dialogue and will only further isolate the authorities in Minsk," Borrell said.
"Attempts by the Belarusian authorities to target certain EU Member States will not succeed in weakening EU unity, which was clearly reaffirmed by the European Council on 1 October when all EU Member States called on the Belarusian authorities to end violence and repression, release all detainees and political prisoners, respect media freedom and civil society, and start an inclusive national dialogue," he noted.
On the same day, the EU leaders approved sanctions against 40 Belarusian officials.
"The EU continues to support the democratic right of the Belarusian people to elect their President through new free and fair elections, without external interference," Borrell said.
Earlier, Borrell explained that Brussels did not consider funding the opposition media and organizations, providing political and media support to the protests and receiving Belarusian opposition leaders in the EU countries as meddling in the country’s affairs and planned to continue this effort.
Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anatoly Glaz said on Friday that the ambassadors of Belarus in Poland and Lithuania had been recalled to Minsk for consultations starting from October 5, and Warsaw and Vilnius had been advised to do the same. In addition, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry recommended that by October 9 Poland should reduce its diplomatic staff from 50 to 18 and Lithuania from 25 to 14 given the countries’ "destructive" activity. He also noted that Minsk would impose visa restrictions against the most biased EU representatives.