Updated at 13:52,22-04-2024

Swedish Ambassador Stefan Eriksson was expelled from Belarus

UDF.BY

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote this in his Twitter.

"Lukashenko regime has expelled Swedish Ambasssador to Belarus for being to supportive for human rights. Outrageous. Shows nature of regime", Carl Bildt wrote. "We have said that the new Belarus ambassador to Sweden not welcome and have asked two other diplomats to leave," he added.

On its Web site Bildt described the exclusion of Swedish diplomat as a big violation of relationships' ethics between the countries.

"We have a fairly comprehensive program of support, especially for organizations dealing with human rights in Belarus, which work in close cooperation with other EU countries, as well as with political parties and public organizations in Sweden. The fact that it is not popular with the regime in Minsk is not surprising", Bildt writes.

According to him, on July 23 during a meeting in Brussels on the Eastern Partnership project Belarus Foreign Minister asked Bildt to promise that Ericsson would be transferred from Belarus in the near future. Such a request Martynov substantiated by the presence of Eriksson at meetings organized by the opposition, and also by the fact that the embassy usually supports non-governmental organizations. Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs didn't agree, adding that the Belarusian embassy in Stockholm contacts the Swedish society, too.

"He accused the Ambassador Eriksson of being a faithful and efficient representative of Sweden and the EU", Bildt writes.

Swedish Foreign Minister said the situation with the expulsion of the ambassador will be discussed by the Committee of the EU Political and Security Affairs.

"It is obvious this incident will have consequences", added the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Stefan Eriksson is already in Stockholm.

On July 31 in response to the "teddy bears' bombing" the Presidential Administration's named the event "ideological attack" and published the article of Vsevolod Shimov.

"Teddy bears bombing is obviously a part of the information war of European "democratic community" against the Belarusian leadership. In principle, there is nothing really new, in such situation we've leaved for years. In this case, only the informational attack surprises us: against the background of of cheap PACE resolutions there is something new and unexpected. It is the "authorship" of the provocation - Sweden", Shimov wrote.

The author turns to the person of Stefan Eriksson:

"A very unusual figure is Swedish Ambassador Mr. Eriksson, who knows the Belarusian language and is actively using it. This is a clear indication of the increased interest of Sweden to Belarus".