March 13, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

MINSK, March 12: The US ambassador to Belarus left Minsk on Wednesday, the embassy said, amid a diplomatic row between Belarus and the United States over US economic sanctions on the ex-Soviet state.

“The ambassador of the US to Belarus, Karen Stewart, departed the embassy at 1100 GMT on Wednesday, en route to Washington,” said a statement on the US embassy website.

The embassy stressed that Stewart’s absence was “temporary” and that she would remain ambassador to Belarus but the statement did appear to be a climbdown from US assertions last week that she was staying put.

The Belarussian foreign ministry last week recommended that Stewart leave Minsk and ordered its own ambassador to Washington, Mikhail Khvostov, to return home in protest at US sanctions on Belarussian oil monopoly Belneftekhim. Belarus said the sanctions were a “crude violation” of international law.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: “We strongly regret this unjustified action by the Belarussian government, this is deeply disappointing and only takes them further away from Europe and the rest of the world.”

The US has imposed sanctions on the foreign assets of Belneftekhim in order to put pressure on the country’s authoritarian leadership to allow democratic freedoms and release political prisoners.—AFP