Belarus expels European ambassadors
By Jan Cienski in Warsaw


Belarus expelled the ambassador of the European Union and that of Poland on Tuesday, marking a fresh low in the strained relationship between Minsk and the 27-member bloc.
The move by the Belarusian foreign ministry followed a decision by the EU to expand the number of people affected by sanctions for helping repress opposition in the former Soviet republic.
Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement that all EU ambassadors to Belarus would be withdrawn “for consultations” following the announcement by the foreign ministry.
The foreign ministry had denounced what it called “undisguised pressure” on the part of the EU, which has levied financial and travel restrictions against more than 160 regime officials implicated in the crackdown against the opposition following flawed presidential elections in December 2010.
The EU added 21 policemen and judges to the list on Monday, provoking outrage from Minsk.
“If the pressure on the Republic of Belarus persists, other measures will be taken to protect our interests,” said the ministry, which said it was also recalling its ambassadors to Warsaw and Brussels, and said it would ban any EU officials responsible for introducing sanctions against Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus’ authoritarian leader, recently warned the EU that there was a “red line” it should not cross when it came to exerting pressure on his government, stressing that Belarus was an important country for western European trade routes. A Russian gas pipeline and the most direct roads leading from the EU to Russia run through Belarus.
Mr Lukashenko, dubbed “Europe's last dictator” by the US, had hundreds of people arrested following demonstrations in late 2010 over how elections were conducted. Several opposition leaders are still in prison.
The regime’s crackdown on opposition has frayed Belarus's ties with the EU, which had pressed Mr Lukashenko to hold a free vote in return for significant economic aid.
Carl Bildt, Sweden’s foreign minister, tweeted on Tuesday: “Lukashenko throws out ambassadors of EU and Poland. Dictator starts burning the last bridges. Normally does not end well.”
Mr Lukashenko appears to have regained some confidence in recent months, after his country narrowly avoided a balance of payments crisis which was set off by extravagant wage increases prior to the 2010 elections.
Last year, dramatic shortages of hard currency and imported goods were experienced in Belarus, but steep devaluations in which the Belarusian rouble lost about two-thirds of its value, together with emergency loans from Russian-backed institutions and the $2.5bn sale of a gas pipeline to Russia's Gazprom, has stabilised the situation for now.

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