Lukashenko wants to get rid of both Makeevka and Western diplomats
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko intends to reduce the number of Belarusian diplomatic missions in a number of Western countries.
He stated this today at a meeting in Minsk, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“In a number of countries, our many years of experience indicate that the prospects for a Belarusian diplomatic presence there are not visible. So why do we keep our embassies and spend budget funds on their maintenance? Why is there a full staff of diplomats responsible for the areas that are paused? In such cases, it is necessary to work on terms of reciprocity, as was recently done with Poland and Lithuania,” Lukashenko said.
He believes that with those countries in which embassies will be liquidated, Belarus will be able to work “at the sites of the UN and other international organizations in New York, Geneva or Vienna.”
“There is an opportunity to speak with the whole world and there is no need to keep political advisers in countries that have frozen contacts with us due to their prejudices or are conducting destructive activities against us,” Lukashenko argues.
As Belarusian political scientist Igor Tyshkevich notes, in the event of the recall of Belarusian ambassadors from a number of Western countries, their ambassadors from Minsk must also leave according to the mirror principle.
“Who gets into the first wave? Without a doubt, Lithuania is at ambassadorial level. Most likely, diplomatic contacts with this country will be kept to a minimum. The second is Poland. I cannot say about the ambassador, but the staff of the embassy will be reduced, which means the number of Polish diplomats on the territory of Belarus will also be reduced. Of the Baltic countries, it is likely that only one embassy will remain. Most likely in Latvia. The reasons here are simple: Latvia is Lithuania’s competitor for transit flows,” Tyshkevich said in his video blog.
He also predicts a reduction in embassies in France and Germany, as well as representation in the EU. In total, the first wave will affect from 5 to 10 states. The expert did not rule out that this number would include the United States.
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