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Bulgarian ambassador to Belarus replaced with charge d'affaires

 

The Bulgarian foreign ministry has appointed a charge d'affaires to the embassy in Minsk, who will head the Bulgarian diplomatic mission in Belarus instead of an ambassador.

Charge d'Affaires Ivailo Ivanov will arrive in Minsk on April 27 to take up his duties, according to the foreign ministry's press office.

Mr. Ivanov's appointment takes place in the context of the overall restoration of the normal functioning of the diplomatic missions of European Union member states in Minsk, the press office said.

The press office did not say why the Bulgarian foreign ministry had decided to not to send Ambassador Zachary Radukov back to Minsk.

After the European Union imposed travel bans and asset freezes on more citizens of Belarus on February 27, Viktar Haysyonak, the Belarusian ambassador to Poland, and Andrey Yewdachenka, Belarus' Brussels-based permanent representative to the European Union, were withdrawn to Minsk "for consultations." Simultaneously, the Belarusian authorities told the Minsk-based ambassadors of Poland and the EU to leave the country, a move that prompted the withdrawal of all other ambassadors of European Union countries from Belarus in an act of "solidarity and unity."

On April 18, Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak announced that the ambassadors of EU countries should return to Belarus in "a matter of days." The announcement followed the release of two prominent Belarusian political prisoners, former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw and his former aide, Dzmitry Bandarenka.

The ambassadors of France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden, as well as EU Ambassador Maira Mora have already returned to Minsk. The Czech ambassador was expected to come back on Friday. //BelaPAN