Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus A.Glaz answers the question of the News Agency BelTA on the departure from Belarus of the appointed Ambassador of France N.de Lacoste

BelTA: Mass Media Outlents citing the French Embassy in Minsk report that French Ambassador Nicolas De Lacoste left Belarus last weekend. Can you confirm and comment on this information?

A.Glaz: As far as we know, he, indeed, left our country.

Mr. De Lacoste came to Belarus in November 2020 as the appointed Ambassador of France and handed over   copies of his Credentials to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus in December 2020. However, subsequently, the Head of the French diplomatic mission haven't demonstrated any readiness to complete the procedure of taking office as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Belarus as it is stipulated by the international law and generally recognized practice.

In this light, we were forced to inform our French partners that the agrement to his appointment issued earlier by the Belarusian authorities expired.

In turn, the Ambassador of Belarus to France, Igor Fisenko, was recalled to Minsk for consultations.

We sincerely regret this stance of our French colleagues. We would like to emphasize that this was a natural, but a forced step on our part. We would like both diplomatic missions to function at the full capacity.

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