Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 10 March (BelTA) – Israel is set to keep its embassy in Belarus open, BelTA learned from Charge d’Affaires ad Interim of Israel in Belarus Yulia Rachinski-Spivakov.

“Israeli Minister of Immigrant Absorption Zeev Elkin said on 9 March that he met with the Prime Minister (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – BelTA’s note) who informed him about the decision to keep the embassy (of Israel in Belarus) open. The decision was announced officially,” Yulia Rachinski-Spivakov said.

“So far the embassy has not received any specific instructions from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so we have not sent any notifications to our Belarusian colleagues about these developments. However, a relevant statement was made, and we are optimistic about the future,” Yulia Rachinski-Spivakov added.

The decision to close the Israeli Embassy in Belarus was announced in January 2016. In a reciprocal move, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its intention to close its diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv. At the same time, the Belarusian ministry emphasized it was objectively necessary to maintain the cooperation at the level of embassies, since the Belarusian and Israeli peoples are connected by thousands of ties.