Belarusian ambassadors return to Warsaw and Brussels

The ambassadors of Belarus to Poland and Belgium, Viktar Haisyonak and Andrei Yeudachenka, returned to their host countries on April 25.

BelaPAN news agency has learned this information from Maria Vanshyna, the deputy head of the information department and head of the press service office of the Belarusian MFA.

We remind ambassadors of the EU countries began to return to Belarus on April 25. Ambassador of Sweden Stefan Eriksson arrived in Minsk in the morning.

The ambassadors of Lithuania and Poland, Edminas Bagdonas and Leszek Szerepka, are already in Belarus heading to Minsk.

The time of arrival of other EU ambassadors is unknown. The EU Delegation to Belarus declines to comment on the situation promising to give information after arrival of the diplomats.

The Ambassador of the Czech Republic, Jiří Karas, is expected to appear in Minsk on April 27, as he said in an interview to the RFE/RL Belarusian service. Ambassador of Germany Christof Weil is expected to arrive this week, the German embassy reports.

Brussels-based Euobserver said some days ago with a link to a source in the European Union head of the EU Delegation Maira Mora and Polish Ambassador Leszek Szerepka, both recommended by the Belarusian authorities to leave for their capitals for consultations on February 28, would be the first to return to Minsk. We remind Minsk resorted to this step after the EU Council had taken a decision to extend sanctions on Belarus. All ambassadors of the EU countries left Belarus in late February and early March as a sign of solidarity with their colleagues.

The EU Council of Foreign Ministers discussed the Belarusian issue at a meeting in Luxembourg on April 23. The Council welcomed the release of opposition politicians Andrei Sannikov and Zmitser Bandarenka stressing the necessity to release and rehabilitate all political prisoners.

Polish PAP news agency reports Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis raised concern Alyaksandr Lukashenka may use the return of ambassadors to Minsk for propaganda purposes. The Lithuanian FM proposed the EU should release a statement regarding the return of diplomats to Belarus, but his initiative failed to find support of other participants of the meeting.