U.S. relations with the former Soviet republic Belarus continued to deteriorate yesterday, one day after Belarus expelled 10 American diplomats and just days after a cyber-attack on the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The expulsions reflected an escalating confrontation between Washington and the Belarus capital, Minsk, after the imposition in December of U.S. sanctions against a state-owned energy conglomerate.
Wednesday’s expulsions reduced the size of the U.S. diplomatic staff in Minsk to four, State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters yesterday.
“We have told [Belarusian officials] that we have very serious concerns about this step that they have taken, and that means we need to think very carefully about our future and their future diplomatic presence in our respective countries,” Mr. Casey said.
Mr. Casey denied earlier reports that the United States would close its embassy in Minsk and order the Belarusian Embassy in Washington and its consulate in New York to close as well.
“We are considering the full range of options in terms of our respective diplomatic presences,” Mr. Casey said. “But at this point, we have not made any formal decisions.”
On Wednesday, the 10 U.S. diplomats were given 72 hours to leave the country, which Condoleezza Rice once described as the last remaining “outpost of tyranny” in Europe.
The cyber-attack took RFE/RL site offline for almost two days, and affected the sites of eight other of the broadcaster”s services, which were hosted on the same server.
“As a reporter, I would have to say I don”t know” who was behind the attack, RFE/RL”s service director, Alyaksandr Lukashuk, told UPI. “As an analyst, I can draw conclusions.”
He said the timing, targets and circumstances of the attack made the Belarusian authorities at least the prime suspect.
The attack took place Saturday, the 22nd anniversary of the meltdown at the Russian Chernobyl reactor. The date has become a focal point of protests by Belarus” beleaguered opposition.
The hackers struck as the RFE/RL began its live Web reporting on the protest.
Mr. Lukashuk said two other Web sites were targeted in the same attack, belonging to the Belarus opposition groups Charter 97 and Belarus Partisan.
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