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UK ambassador returns to Minsk

British Ambassador Rosemary Thomas came back to Belarus on April 29, the Minsk-based British embassy's press office told BelaPAN.

Ms. Thomas, who is expected to leave her post this summer, returned to her duties on Monday.

European Union countries' ambassadors started returning to Belarus on April 25, nearly two months after being withdrawn from Minsk amid a bitter diplomatic row.

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 recalled 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 campaign aide, Dzmitry Bandarenka.

The ambassadors of the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, as well as EU Ambassador Maira Mora returned to Minsk last week.