Belarusian Ambassador to Argentina Refused to Work for a Person Who Does Not Have the Right to Express the Will of the People

The diplomat wrote a statement.

Ambassador of Belarus to Argentina and concurrently to the Republic of Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, Uladzimir Astapenka, resigned on the day of Lukashenka's inauguration, September 23. But the other day, he withdrew the application and submitted a new one; now, the ambassador has resigned in connection with the violation of the legislation by the employer, tut.by reports.

- After the inauguration, on September 23, I submitted an application for dismissal from my post by agreement of the parties in accordance with paragraph 1 of the second part of Article 35 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus. I received no reaction to this. Now I have withdrawn this application, and on October 27, I have submitted a new one, demanding to release me from the post of ambassador already based on Article 41 - in connection with violations of the legislation by the employer that impede the performance of my work under the employment contract, - said Uladzimir Astapenka.

The ambassador believes that a number of employers' actions create objective conditions for non-recognition of the legitimacy of the head of state and Belarus's international isolation. In particular, there are:

numerous violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens of Belarus enshrined in the Constitution of the country and its international legal obligations;

obvious and gross falsifications of the results of the presidential elections, which became the reason for their non-recognition by the 27 EU member states, Great Britain, USA, Canada, Ukraine, and other countries;

the unjustifiably harsh reaction of the internal affairs bodies (use of excessive force and special equipment) in response to legitimate peaceful protests;

unlawful delay in making decisions on the initiation of criminal cases on the facts of murder, torture, violence, mass beatings, arbitrary detention, perjury by law enforcement agencies;

failure to comply with the requirements of national legislation and international legal customs, which provide for the need to ensure maximum publicity when organizing the presidential inauguration ceremony.

"The lack of international legitimacy of the head of state does not allow me, both as a diplomat and as a patriot of my country, to continue the conscientious fulfillment of the ambassador's duties, being subordinate to a person who has no right to express the will of the Belarusian people," Astapenka explains.

Uladzimir Astapenka is a career diplomat who began his work as the third secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Byelorussian SSR. He served as Deputy Foreign Minister, worked in a number of embassies. In 2018, he was appointed Ambassador of Belarus to the Argentine Republic and later - Ambassador to Chile, Paraguay, and Peru concurrently.

Recall that after the presidential elections, a number of diplomats left the Foreign Ministry because of their public position. Belarus ambassadors to Spain, Latvia, and Slovakia lost their posts and/or diplomatic rank. An employee of the central office, head of the historical and archival department of the Foreign Ministry Viachaslau Kazachenka, who went to a picket against the violence in the country, was fired from the Foreign Ministry under the article; the head of the Department of North America and Western Europe, Andrei Bushyla, and the first secretary of the European Department of the Foreign Ministry, Pavel Slyunkin, resigned themselves.