At the request of the United States, the Consulate General of the Republic of Belarus in New York will cease its work on October 21, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
The applicants will be received in the consulate until October 15; citizens also can send their documents by mail until October 8.
Even when the consulate has been closed down, Belarusian citizens still have an opportunity to apply to the Belarusian Embassy in Washington if it should be necessary.
On August 11, the Belarusian authorities withdrew their consent to the appointment of Julie Fisher as US Ambassador and demanded the United States reduce its diplomatic presence in Minsk to five persons. On August 31, six US diplomats left Belarus.
Ms Fisher has never been allowed to enter Belarus; before the withdrawal, she had to work in Vilnius due to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s refusal to grant a visa to her.
As reported earlier, on the anniversary of the fraudulent Belarusian election of 9 August 2020, the US Department of the Treasury issued its ‘largest round of sanctions to date against Belarusian individuals and entities’, including Belaruskali (producer of potash fertilizers), Belarus’ National Olympic Committee, several businessmen who are believed to be Lukashenka’s bagmen, and others. Moreover, US President Joseph Biden signed an Executive Order [E.O.] imposing further consequences upon Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his regime for their ongoing assault against the democratic aspirations and human rights of the Belarusian people, transnational repression and abuse, affronts to international norms, and corruption.
