The Belarusian Foreign Ministry decided to reduce the staff of the US Embassy in the country in response to the US sanctions imposed after  the Ryanair plane landed in Minsk  and the arrest of the Belarusian opposition journalist Roman Protasevich.

The Foreign Ministry also decided to toughen visa procedures, temporarily restrict the work of Americans in the country and revoke the decision to work in Belarus of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), according to the ministry’s website.

“These measures are targeted, they are designed to send a clear signal to the United States about the futility of pressure and coercion in relations with Belarus,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said.

The decision of Belarus to cut the personnel of the American diplomatic mission will come into force on June 13, the US State Department reported .

At the end of May, the United States announced that it would suspend the air services agreement with Belarus and resume sanctions against Belarusian state-owned enterprises (the sanctions became known even before the incident with the Ryanair aircraft).

(C)MEDUZA 2021