Belarus expels two Polish diplomats in spat over WWII event

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Minsk, March 11 (AFP/APP):Belarus, which earlier this week expelled one Polish diplomat, tossed out two more on Thursday after Poland expelled a Belarusian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move.
The diplomatic spat between the neighbouring countries began Tuesday when Belarus expelled a Polish consul for taking part in an event honouring Polish resistance fighters who fought against the Nazi and Soviet occupations but also targeted Belarusians.
Poland announced a reciprocal expulsion of a Belarusian diplomat on Wednesday.
In a statement Thursday, Belarus’ foreign ministry said it had given the Polish consul to the city of Grodno and the head of the consulate 48 hours to leave the country “in connection with the excessive, asymmetric and destructive response of Poland”.
“The principled position of the Belarusian side on the unacceptability of the glorification of war criminals and justification of the genocide of the Belarusian people will remain unchanged,” the ministry said.
The so-called “cursed soldiers” fought at first against German occupation before turning against Soviet occupiers. They often acted violently against non-Poles, in particular Belarusians.
Relations between Belarus and Poland have been strained after protests broke out last August against the disputed re-election of Belarusian strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.
EU member state Poland has sheltered Belarusian activists that have fled across the border to escape a crackdown on the opposition.
Also on Thursday, exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to EU member state Lithuania, said a move to charge her jailed blogger husband with advocating to violently overthrow the government was “the regime’s reprisal” against him.
Sergei Tikhanovsky faces up to 15 years in prison.

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