Swedish FM comments on the expulsion of Stefan Eriksson.
«Belarus state media has now started a campaign of slander against Sweden and our Ambassador,»
Sweden FM Carl Bildt wrote on his Twitter.
He also called the accusation against recently «expelled» ambassador Stefan Eriksson who has worked in Minsk since 2005 and whose accreditation was not extended by Belarusian authorities «rubbish from rubbish».
In a report broadcast on Friday, the ONT television channel accused Mr. Eriksson of involvement in attempts to organize a violent uprising in Belarus, BelaPAN says.
The Swedish diplomat
«personally passed instructions, money to radical groups, extremists who were preparing a violent campaign against Belarus similar to the Arab Spring,»
the report said.
Siarhiej Musijenka, the chief of government-controlled polling company EcooM, told the channel that Mr. Eriksson had acted as an agent of foreign secret services.
The report accused the Swedish embassy of trying to smuggle a large shipment of printed material into Belarus in June and alleged that Mr. Eriksson «de facto covered up the smuggling.»
The channel also suggested that the Swedish government and the ambassador could have played a part in a drop of teddy bears over Belarus from a foreign plane, a pro-democracy stunt carried out by representatives of Swedish PR firm Studio Total on July 4.
Carl Bildt was the first person to report on Stefan Eriksson’s expulsion from Swedish diplomatic mission to Belarus.
«Lukashenka regime has expelled Swedish Ambassador to Belarus for being too supportive of human rights. Outrageous. Shows nature of regime.»
«We have said that the new Belarus ambassador to Sweden not welcome and have asked two other diplomats to leave,»
the FM wrote on August 3.
In his official statement, Carl Bildt says sending out Stefan Eriksson is a rude violation of norms of relations between two state.
He calls the accusations against the ambassador groundless and mentions that Sweden has never concealed supporting democracy and human rights in Belarus.
In its turn, Sweden informed Belarusian ambassador that the presence of new ambassador to Sweden is not welcomed and two Belarus embassy representatives are going to be sent out.
Belarusian Foreign Ministry stated that
«Belarusian part does not expell the Swedish ambassador. The decision on not extending his accreditation was made.»
«Stefan Eriksson has been in Belarus for 7 years, and all this time his work was aimed not at establishing, but at ruining bilateral relations. The decision is the part of our bilateral relations. If the Swedish party intends to aggravate the situation, we will have to react in an appropriate way,»
said FM press service.
Stefan Eriksson has been working in Minsk since 2005. He is considered one of the best European experts on Belarus.
He has actively supported Belarusian culture: he personally translated some of works by Vasil Bykau and Uladzimier Arlou into Swedish and helped to bring Belarusian rock bands to Swedish stages.
Swedish policy towards Belarus has been aimed at support of democracy and human rights.
Sweden supports the only Belarusian-language TV channel Belsat and European Humanities University, an independent Belarusian university which is currently in exile in Vilnius.
Swedish singer Loreen, the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2012, performed at Belarusian state arts festival Slavianski Bazar and — to big displeasure of officials — met with the imprisoned human rights defender Alies Bialiacki's wife.
The meeting took place at the Swedish embassy in Minsk.
The last event that probably broke the camel’s back was bear bombing performed by two Swedish pilots who entered Belarusian air space unnoticed and dropped teddy bears with pro-democracy slogans over Minsk.
Seemingly, it was an initiative of a group of individuals, with no involvement of the Swedish state. Yet Lukashenkist ideologists called for «punishment of Sweden».
Several days ago, Sovietskaya Belorussiya, the newspaper of the Presidential Administration, accused Mr. Ericsson of being «too active».
Sending out Stefan Eriksson may be the beginning of a new diplomatic war.
The previous one occurred in spring, 2012. Then official Minsk requested a Polish diplomat and a representative of European Commission to leave Belarus for a consultation. In its turn the EU recalled all European ambassadors from Minsk.
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