The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Charge d'Affaires of Belarus and handed over a note on the reduction of the diplomatic presence of Belarus in the country in response to a similar move by Minsk, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2021) The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Charge d'Affaires of Belarus and handed over a note on the reduction of the diplomatic presence of Belarus in the country in response to a similar move by Minsk, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Belarus decided to minimize the diplomatic representation of Lithuania, leaving one consul and three administrative and technical staff at the embassy of this country.
"On 7 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania summoned a chargés d'affaires ad interim of Belarus to Lithuania and handed in a diplomatic note, informing about a reduction of the diplomatic presence of Belarus in the country in response to continuous, systematic, and unfriendly actions of Belarus," the ministry said.
In accordance with the decision of the Lithuanian government, the diplomatic staff of the Belarusian Embassy in Lithuania should be reduced to one employee by midnight on July 12, 2021. To perform administrative and technical functions, no more than three employees should remain in the embassy.
"In addition, Lithuania's Foreign Ministry expressed a protest to the Belarusian representative against the continuing violations of human rights and freedoms, the repression of civil society and independent media in Belarus, called for an immediate release of all political prisoners and other illegally detained persons, and for a cessation of illegal migration flows across the Belarusian-Lithuanian state border," the statement also says.
