The United States has suspended operations at its embassy in Belarus and authorized the voluntary departure of non-essential staff from its Moscow legation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
“We are taking these steps due to security concerns stemming from the unprovoked and unwarranted attack by Russian military forces on Ukraine.“Blinken said in a statement.
“We have no higher priority than the safety of American citizens”he added, says a dispatch from the AFP agency.
Belarus on Sunday held a referendum removing Russia’s allied former Soviet republic’s obligation to remain a “nuclear-weapon-free zone,” a change denounced by the West.
We have suspended operations at our Embassy in Minsk and authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency employees and family members at our Embassy in Moscow. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 28, 2022
The United States had already closed its embassy in Kiev before the imminence of a Russian armed interventionand for weeks has been urging its citizens to leave Ukraine.
A small diplomatic team in charge of Ukraine operates from Lviv, in the west of the country, near the border with Poland.
In mid-February, the State Department had also asked the Americans to leave Belarus, where Moscow concentrated troops.
The US embassies in Minsk and Moscow were already sitting idle after a series of reciprocal expulsions of diplomats, some several years ago.
