BELARUS RECALLS AMBASSADOR FROM POLAND.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 4 Issue: 25

Belarusan Foreign Minister Ivan Antanovich and Belarusan opposition activists yesterday publicly protested Poland’s recent hosting of two seminars.

Held in Bialystok and Warsaw, the sessions — as seen by Antanovich — discussed "how to destabilize the legitimate presidency of Belarus" and "trained the opposition to seize power." Terming Poland’s sponsoring the seminars "an openly unfriendly act", Antanovich announced that the Belarusan ambassador in Warsaw "has been recalled for an indefinite term for consultations" — a phrase usually implying a suspension or downgrading of diplomatic relations.

Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek is due to visit Belarus very soon in his other capacity as chairman-in-office of the OSCE for 1998, in connection with the opening of an OSCE monitoring and consultative mission in Minsk. Antanovich warned that Belarus might not receive Geremek if he declines to discuss the bilateral "problems." (Itar-Tass, RTR, February 5)

Kyiv/Yalta Deadlock.