A diplomatic row between Belarus and Sweden over teddy bears escalated today when the eastern European country withdrew its embassy staff from Stockholm.
Belarus also told Sweden to take similar action with its diplomats in Minsk.
It all stems from a stunt by a Swedish PR which parachuted 800 teddy bears into Belarus last month.
The company chartered a light aircraft which invaded Belarussian airspace to drop the bears, all of which highlighted the lack of human rights in the former Soviet state.
A furious Belarus president, Alexander Lukashenko, has sacked senior members of his staff over the incident and is now taking his fury out on Sweden.
Belarus expelled Sweden's ambassador on August 3. The Belarussian ambassador to Stockholm was also withdrawn.
The foreign ministry said Minsk was now pulling out its remaining embassy staff because Sweden had aggravated the situation by expelling two more diplomats and had refused to allow a new Belarussian ambassador to take up his post.
'In this connection, the Belarussian side has been forced to take the decision to withdraw its embassy in Sweden and bring back all its (embassy) staff to Belarus,' the statement said.
Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter: 'His fear of human rights reaching new heights.'
The incident was a humiliation for President Alexander Lukashenko, a hardliner who has been in power in Belarus since 1994 and is on poor terms with the West because of his harsh policies towards the political opposition.
European Union ambassadors will hold an emergency meeting on Friday on the issue, an EU source in Brussels said.
'There will be an emergency meeting of the European Union ambassadors Friday to decide on appropriate measures,' the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that the meeting would be held in Brussels.
Teddy Bear says; "democracy now!"
Teddy Bear says; "democracy now!"
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
