Belarus: the French ambassador forced to leave the country

The French Ambassador, Nicolas de Bouillane de Lacoste, flew to France this Sunday. Minsk had asked him to leave the territory before Monday, October 18. “Ambassador Nicolas de Lacoste left Belarus today”, confirmed a spokeswoman for the embassy.

However, she did not indicate the reason given by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry. But according to local media, he was expelled because he never presented his credentials to President Alexander Lukashenko.

On its website, the French Embassy in Belarus has indeed specified that the diplomat presented on December 8, 2020 “the figurative copy of his credentials“to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Makei.

Also, “Belarusian foreign ministry asked for ambassador to leave before 18 October (2021, editor’s note) “, underlined the spokesperson. “He said goodbye to the embassy staff and sent a video message to the Belarusian people, which will appear tomorrow. (Monday, editor’s note) on the website of the embassy “, she added.

This decision comes in a tense diplomatic context between France and Belarus. Like other countries of the European Union (EU), Paris did not recognize the results of the presidential election last August which granted a sixth term to Alexander Lukashenko. This re-election resulted in massive and unprecedented protests for several months in this former Soviet republic, an ally of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

In addition to the consequences at the national level – including a sharp crackdown on opponents of President Lukashenko – the EU and the United States have adopted a series of sanctions against the Belarusian regime. But the 67-year-old leader – who immediately accused Western governments of instigating protests in the hope of provoking a revolution – continues to resist sanctions, with support from Moscow, and has cut ties with some interlocutors Westerners.

For example, the Belarusian government expelled Latvian embassy staff in March 2021 on the pretext that the Latvian authorities used the Belarusian opposition flag during an ice hockey championship. Minsk then withdrew its agreement for the appointment of the American ambassador, Julie Fisher, last August, which had however been confirmed in December 2020. She should have been the first diplomat sent from the United States to this country since 2008.

As the Belarusian regime succeeded in ending protests, jailed hundreds of opponents, forced some opposition leaders into exile and shut down dozens of media and NGOs, a country’s court recently sentenced one of the main figures of the opposition to 11 years in prison: Maria Kolesnikova. She is the only leader of last year’s protests who managed to bring together up to hundreds of thousands of people.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya – whose opposition and Westerners believe she won the presidential election against Alexander Lukashenko – is in exile in Lithuania. After the election, she mobilized the world’s great leaders, calling on the international community to pressure for a new presidential election to be held in Belarus. In vain.