The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus has decided to expel 12 Ukrainian diplomats and close the Consulate General of Ukraine in Brest city. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry promised to respond.
This was reported by Zerkalo.io, formerly known as Tut.by, the leading independent news website of Belarus.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry noted that the reason for this decision was "interference in the internal affairs of Belarus" and "destructive actions" in recent years. And they stated that only five Ukrainian diplomatic workers will remain in their country.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called this another "unfriendly" step.
"We consider such actions of Belarus as another unprovoked unfriendly step towards Ukraine. Ukraine will not leave the actions of Belarus without a proper response, which we will announce separately," the Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko stated.