Belarus: The parliament of the republic declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 25 August 1991. Alexander Lukashenko has been the country's president since 1994. Despite objections from Western governments, Lukashenko has continued Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of the economy. According to some organizations and countries, elections have been unfair, and political opponents have been violently suppressed. In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, with some hints of forming a Union State. Despite its close proximity to the rest of Europe and the West, Belarus' Democracy Index rating continuously ranks the lowest in Europe, and is labeled as "Not Free" by Freedom House. [source: wikipedia]
The Malaysian Star news
written by Richard Balmforth, Reuters
Wednesday August 8, 2012
Belarus said on Wednesday it was withdrawing its remaining embassy staff from Sweden in a rift over a pro-democracy stunt involving an air drop of teddy bears on Belarus and told Stockholm to take similar action with its diplomats in Minsk.
A foreign ministry statement said it was not severing relations with Sweden. But the move marked an escalation in the dispute and looked certain to worsen already strained relations between the European Union and the former Soviet republic.
Belarus expelled Sweden's ambassador on August 3 following the July 4 escapade in which hundreds of toy bears bearing pro-democracy messages were parachuted into the hardline former Soviet republic from a light aircraft chartered by a Swedish public relations firm.
The Belarussian ambassador to Stockholm was also withdrawn.
The foreign ministry said Minsk was now pulling out its remaining embassy staff because Sweden had aggravated the situation by expelling two more diplomats and had refused to allow a new Belarussian ambassador to take up his post.
"In this connection, the Belarussian side has been forced to take the decision to withdraw its embassy in Sweden and bring back all its (embassy) staff to Belarus," the statement said.
The incident was a humiliation for President Alexander Lukashenko, a hardliner who has been in power in Belarus since 1994 and is on poor terms with the West because of his harsh policies towards the political opposition.
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