MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Minsk will not stand on ceremony with "wayward" diplomats, President Alexander Lukashenko said during a meeting on foreign policy priorities with Belarusian ambassadors.
"[The diplomats] fell for the hysteria, pumped by Telegram channels and foreign media. By the way, no other agency experienced such vacillations as the diplomatic service did," Lukahsenko said, according to Belarusian media. "What is there to talk about, if heads of overseas agencies let the situation in their collective slide and openly defected to the rebels."
"I tell you man to man: we will not stand on ceremony with traitors. Decide for yourself, who remains wayward," the President warned.
He reminded everyone that those who failed to live up to the high status of a diplomat were stripped of their ranks.
"This is how it will be. Tough, but fair," he said.
He named a few examples of diplomats who betrayed the trust of the authorities.
"Former ambassadors to Argentina (Astapenko), Spain (Pustovoy), Slovakia (Leschenia), Latvia (Markovich), former heads of overseas agencies in Switzerland (Matsukevich), Dubai (Bondarev)," Lukashenko said. "Not to mention [former Ambassador to Poland and France Pavel] Latushko, who spent 17 years out of the 21 years of service abroad. I will remind you that the Foreign Ministry was pulling him to a new position abroad until the very last moment; I wonder whom would he work for there, if he ever got there?"
On the other hand, according to Lukashenko, there are those who truly acted in defense of their country, provided commentaries to foreign media, and assisted Belarusians in repatriation. He noted Belarusian ambassadors to Russia, Ukraine, India, Indonesia, and Egypt.
The President ordered the Prime Minister, the Head of the Administration and the Foreign Minister to pay special attention to the staffing of the Foreign Ministry before the end of this year.
Earlier, Lukashenko, dismissed the Belarusian ambassadors to Latvia, Slovakia, Spain, and Argentina (who also acts as an ambassador to Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay and Peru), who supported the protests in Belarus. All of them, plus Pavel Latushko, who currently works as a board member of the Coordination Council of Belarusian Opposition, were stripped of their diplomatic status.