Minsk Recommends Washington to Further Reduce Embassy Staff

Minsk has announced that it has decided to reduce the number of staff members in its embassy in Washington and recommend the United States to do the same.

Belarusian foreign ministryA note informing the US government of the decision was handed to Jonathan Moore, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Minsk, on March 31, said the press office of the Belarusian foreign ministry.

According to the press office, the note explains that the decision was made because the US government had “repeatedly refused to abolish additional restrictive measures of an economic nature” against Belarus’ state petrochemical conglomerate Belnaftakhim, as well as “considering the US administration’s consistent policy aimed at scaling down contacts with the Belarusian side.”

With reference to Article 11 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the Belarusian foreign ministry has suggested that Washington cut the staff of the US embassy in Minsk by the same number and within the same period of time.

The ministry has not yet announced how many embassy staff members are to leave the United States and when.

The USA reduced its embassy’s staff by half to 17 people last week at the request of the Belarusian authorities. Minsk had demanded, without giving a reason, that the United States reduce its embassy staff to the number of staff members of the Belarusian diplomatic mission in Washington and threatened to expel some of the 35 US diplomats if it does not.

The future of Belarus’ dialogue with the United States depends on the complete lifting of sanctions against Belarusian economic entities, Andrey Papow, spokesman for the foreign ministry, said on March 20.

“It is necessary to equalize the levels of diplomatic presence on a parity basis,” which means that the USA’s diplomatic presence in Belarus should match that of Belarus in the United States, he said. “The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, in particular Article 11 of this document, gives us such an opportunity in full measure. That is why this demand of the Belarusian side is well-founded,” he noted.

Belarusian-American relations further deteriorated after the United States imposed economic sanctions against Belarus’ petrochemical conglomerate Belnaftakhim over human rights abuses.

In mid-November 2007, the US Treasury Department announced that any assets found in the USA that belong to Belnaftakhim) should be frozen, as the Department had added Belnaftakhim to its list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons. The resulting sanctions also barred US citizens from doing business with Belnaftakhim and its offices.

Minsk recalled its ambassador to the USA, Mikhail Khvastow, on March 7 "for consultations" after the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a statement with regard to the applicability of the sanctions.

The Belarusian foreign ministry emphatically recommended that US Ambassador Karen Stewart leave Belarus "for the same purpose." The ambassador went away after the Belarusian government had threatened to expel her in retaliation for the US sanctions. "I was not expelled, but they made it clear that that would be the next step if I did not leave," she told reporters later.

Article 11 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations reads:

1. In the absence of specific agreement as to the size of the mission, the receiving State may require that the size of a mission be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal, having regard to circumstances and conditions in the receiving State and to the needs of the particular mission.

2. The receiving State may equally, within similar bounds and on a nondiscriminatory basis, refuse to accept officials of a particular category.