Lithuania, Poland recall more diplomats from Belarus

Lithuania and Poland anunced Friday y were recalling some of ir diplomats from Minsk, saying Belarus has demanded that y scale down ir missions.

Poland was pulling back 30 diplomats, chiefly from consular section, and Lithuania five. moves come amid a diplomatic tug-of-war over recent presidential election in Belarus that is widely seen as having been rigged to give authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term.

Last week, Lithuania and Poland recalled ir ambassors to neighboring Belarus for consultations under pressure from Minsk, and Belarus did same for its ambassors to two nations. In a tit-for-tat move, Minsk also demanded that two countries reduce ir diplomatic staff in Minsk.

“Belarus has me categorical demands to reduce number of accredited Lithuanian diplomats drastically,” Rasa Jakilaitiene, spokeswoman for Lithuanian foreign minister, said in a statement. “Toger with Poland, we have decided to recall our ambassors for consultations in order to reduce tensions and to preserve a possibility to maintain diplomatic relations."

“We hope that this measure will be sufficient to maintain possibilities of dialogue," she said about move to recall five more diplomats.

In Poland, Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said Minsk's demand for scaling down of its mission was a “hostile move that Poland will respond to in due time and due form.”

Lithuania and Poland have have been strong critics of political turmoil in Belarus.

Lithuania has granted shelter to Belarus opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhauskaya, who fled her country after unsuccessfully challenging Lukashenko in country’s Aug. 9 presidential vote. Officials said Lukashenko won a sixth term in office but opposition members say election was riddled with fraud and are holding large protests to call for a repeat vote.

Toger with two or Baltic states, Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania and Poland swiftly imposed sanctions against Belarusian leers, and 27-nation European Union — which includes three Baltic nations — eventually followed suit with sanctions. Belarus is t an EU member.