Belarus, EU in tit-for-tat diplomatic war over rights

BRUSSELS

Belarus Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh briefs journalists on a recent Belarus-EU diplomatic crisis in Minsk, on February 29, 2012. AFP Photo

The European Union recalled all its ambassadors to Belarus after Minsk decided to expel two of them in retaliation for new sanctions imposed by the bloc over the country’s rights record.

 EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement that the envoys were being “withdrawn for consultations to their capitals” in “an expression of solidarity and unity.” In addition, all EU member states will summon Belarusian ambassadors to their foreign ministries.

 Earlier Feb. 28, Minsk said the ambassador of Poland -- which led the drive for fresh EU sanctions against Belarus -- and the EU’s envoy should leave the country. The ex-Soviet republic also recalled its own ambassadors to Poland and the EU, a day after a fresh raft of sanctions against Belarusian officials over President Alexander Lukashenko’s abysmal rights record. “The head of the EU representative office and the Polish ambassador to Belarus have also been invited to travel to their capitals,” Belarus’ foreign ministry said in a statement. The moves came one day after the EU Council voted to add 21 names to a list of some 200 Belarusian officials prevented from traveling to EU countries because of human rights violations. The officials also face an assets freeze. The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, voiced his displeasure at the decision: “It is a disproportionate, unhelpful and counterproductive step... I consider it a hostile act.” Schulz said that “instead of choosing increasing self-isolation … Belarus should release unconditionally and rehabilitate all political prisoners.” “It’s a hostile step toward the entire EU,” Poland’s foreign ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki said of Minsk’s latest diplomatic moves.
 
Compiled from AFP and AP stories by the Daily News staff.