The Belarusian authorities have decided to expel some Ukrainian diplomats and close the Consulate General of Ukraine in Brest, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
"The Ukrainian embassy will continue to work in Belarus in a 1+4 format, that is, an ambassador and four staff members," state-run BelTA news agency reported, quoting Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz.
The day before Minsk stated that eight out of 19 employees of the Ukrainian embassy were "career members of the national security services.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko denied the information that "intelligence agents worked under cover of the Ukrainian embassy in Belarus.
"The Belarusian side enlisted in the "spies" employees of the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk, who officially represent different departments of Ukraine: the Defense Ministry, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Border Service of Ukraine. Personal data was made publicly available. Before the war, these people had hundreds of meetings with official representatives of Belarus. Such activities can hardly be called "undercover," Nikolenko wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
He also emphasized that such statements "increasingly complicate bilateral relations" between Ukraine and Belarus.
