Tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions as gulf with Belarus widens further

The WBJ:

Poland made another major symbolic move and ordered the tit-for-tat expulsion of the Charge d'Affair at the Belarusian embassy in response to expulsion of the head of the Polish consulate in Minsk. Last Friday the Belarusian Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement that was highly critical of Poland and Belarus state television once again accused Poland of hostile actions against the country. "The KGB and our secret services were trying to prove that they were not guilty and it was Warsaw and Polish diplomats who were the reasons behind the whole dispute," said Uładzimir Podgoł, an independent expert. The whole dispute surrounds the elections of the new head of the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB) in which Belarus officials are trying to push for their candidate to take the position. The officials' favorite is Tadeusz Kruczkowski, who appeared in one of the anti-Polish movies.