English

US charge d’affaires to leave Belarus this month

The diplomatic term of Ethan Goldrich, the United States’ charge d’affaires in Minsk, will expire later this month.

Mr. Goldrich will leave Belarus at the end of June. It is not known who will be the new head of the US diplomatic mission.

Mr. Goldrich arrived in Minsk on July 26, 2013. His predecessor, Michael Scanlan, had left Belarus the previous day. He had served in the position of charge d'affaires since July 2009.

The United States has had no ambassador in Belarus since the spring of 2008, when it had to reduce its diplomatic staff in Minsk by order of the Belarusian government, which retaliated for Washington’s sanctions against Belarus’ state petrochemical conglomerate Belnaftakhim.

Minsk recalled its ambassador from Washington "for consultations" in early March and 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 addition, Minsk cut its diplomatic staff in the United States and urged Washington to reduce its staff in Belarus to the same number. As a result, the US diplomatic staff in Minsk had to be reduced from 35 to five.

Mr. Lukashenka revealed later that Minsk had told Washington to cut the staff of the US embassy in Belarus because opposition forces had been financed through the embassy. //BelaPAN