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Petition for severing Kiev-Minsk diplomatic ties posted on Ukrainian president’s website

Ukrainian Ambassador Igor Kizim said earlier on Tuesday that Ukraine’s embassy in Minsk had sent a note of protest to the foreign ministry following a TV report about Ukrainian diplomats recruiting mercenaries

KIEV, January 18. /TASS/. Ukrainian lawmaker Alexey Goncharenko has posted a petition for severing his country’s diplomatic ties with Belarus on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s website on Tuesday.

"We are making an appeal to the president of Ukraine, demanding to recall the ambassador and sever diplomatic ties with Belarus," the petition says.

Goncharenko is a lawmaker representing the European Solidarity party of former president Pyotr Poroshenko.

He says ties must be severed because Russian troops are stationed on the territory of Belarus.

Ukrainian Ambassador Igor Kizim said earlier on Tuesday that Ukraine’s embassy in Minsk had sent a note of protest to the foreign ministry following a TV report about Ukrainian diplomats recruiting mercenaries.

Belarus expelled the majority of Ukrainian diplomats in March. Kiev followed suit. According to Belarusian national security service KGB, eight of the embassy’s 19 diplomats were agents of Ukrainian special services. The Ukrainian embassy in Minsk is now functioning under the ‘one plus four’ formula, which implies one ambassador and four diplomatic staffers.

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Ukraine Belarus Vladimir Zelensky

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