Sweden appoints ambassador to Belarus

Martin Åberg has been appointed Ambassador of Sweden to Belarus.

The decision was taken by the Swedish government on April 30, charter97.org learnt from the embassy's press service.

The embassy of Sweden in Minsk was closed down on August 30, 2012. Belarus's embassy in Stockholm stopped its work in the same year. The diplomatic row followed the decision of the Belarusian authorities not to prolong accreditation of Swedish ambassador Stefan Eriksson, who was accused of carrying out “destructive activity”. The Swedish authorities said in response they would not accept a new Belarusian ambassador and recommended two employees of the Belarusian embassy to leave Stockholm.

Journalists connected the closure of the Swedish embassy in Minsk to an unsanctioned flight to Belarus organised by Studio Total PR firm to support free speech in our country.

Functions of the Swedish embassy in Minsk were performed by the Estonian diplomatic mission; functions of the Belarusian embassy in Stockholm were performed by the embassy of Latvia.

Belarus accredited chargé d'affaires ad interim in Belarus Martin Åberg in spring 2013. Martin Åberg arrived in Minsk as a chargé d'affaires ad interim of Sweden in Belarus in June 2013. He had worked in embassies of Sweden in Latvia, Congo, Finland and Russia before his appointment to Belarus.