Belarus Expected To Skip EU-Eastern Partnership Talks

The Foreign Minister of Belarus has been omitted from a list of delegates expected in Prague on March 5 for a meeting of the European Union's "Eastern Partnership" program.

The development comes amid deteriorating relations between Brussels and Minsk after the EU last week expanded sanctions over the repression of the country's political opposition.

A list on the Czech government's website on March 5 includes the foreign ministers of only five of the six "Eastern Partnership" countries expected to meet with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU Integration Commissioner Stefan Fuele.

They are from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Ministers from the Baltic States and the so-called Visegrad Four (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia) also are expected in Prague on March 5.

Belarus became a member of the Eastern Partnership only after much debate, because the EU considers Belarus to be an authoritarian dictatorship.