World Jewish News

"Budget problems" drive Israel to close embassy in Belarus.

The Israeli embassy in Belarus has stopped receiving visitors and rendering consular services since July 18th. Citizens of Belarus should address consular questions, not connected with permanent residence departures, at the Israeli embassy in Moscow (Russian Federation). The place and the procedure for distributing Israeli visas for permanent residence is being determined at the moment. Igal Tanuri, the Israeli embassy temporary attorney to Minsk, stated that the diplomatic mission in the Belarussian capital is planned "to be closed officially". He said that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already notified the ambassador of Belarus to Israel of these intentions. Igal Tanuri specified that Israel decided to close the embassy because of "budget problems within Israel", not because of the development of any interstate tensions in relations with Belarus. Israel is about to close four diplomatic representative offices in other countries simultaneously with the embassy in Minsk. "Relations between Israel and Belarus are stable

Источник: charter97.org