Belarus expels majority of Ukraine diplomats

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Belarus will be expelling most Ukrainian diplomats operating in the country, Minsk said Wednesday, citing Kiev's interference in domestic affairs.

"Belarus has decided to reduce the number of Ukrainian diplomats on its territory," Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said, explaining that the measure came in a bid to stop the non-diplomatic activities of several diplomatic Ukrainian staff members.

The Belarusian authorities have only allowed for the Ukrainian ambassador and four diplomats to continue operating on their soil when 20 people had been staffing the embassy before the decision. 

Minsk also said it would be closing the Ukrainian consulate in Brest citing the effective absence of staff from Kiev.

On the other hand, Minsk had already withdrawn its diplomatic staff from Ukraine after the start of the Russian military operation in the country and argued that there had been many "unfriendly actions" from Kiev.

"Since 2020, Belarus has seen many unfriendly actions of Ukraine aimed at the irresponsible destruction of interstate relations with our country, business contacts, and long-established ties," Glaz added.

"It has reached a point where the Ukrainian authorities have begun directly and indirectly interfering in our internal affairs and paused contacts between our states. As of 2021, they have called Belarus an enemy country," he said. 

In light of tensions between Moscow and Kiev, Minsk hosted several rounds of talks between the two parties with the aim of reaching a ceasefire.

There were three rounds in Belarus in total, and the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said Monday the third one was "not up to Moscow's expectations," though he did underline that the meetings would continue.

The talks are over Russia launching a special military operation for several reasons, including NATO's eastward expansion. Other reasons were the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass and the killing of the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, in addition to Moscow wanting to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.