MINSK, 4 June (BelTA) – U.S. Ambassador Julie Fisher has officially nothing to do with Belarus yet, Anatoly Glaz, Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said answering a question from the RIA Novosti news agency, BelTA informs.
Journalists asked him to comment on the statement by U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price that U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Julie Fisher will “continue to support the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people, and she'll continue to engage with them from outside of Belarus”. The statement came after Belarus announced on 3 June that it would retaliate for U.S. sanctions.
“Julie Fisher is personally free to support any legitimate aspirations of any citizens, even in Greenland or the North Pole, because officially she has nothing to do with Belarus yet,” Anatoly Glaz said in response.
He recalled that, in accordance with Article 13, Paragraph 1 of the Vienna Convention, the head of the mission is considered as having taken up their functions in the receiving State either when he/she has presented their credentials or when he/she has notified their arrival and a true copy of their credentials has been presented to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the receiving State. “Thus, before the completion of the accreditation process, Julie Fisher has only the resounding status of the U.S. ambassador-designate, and that is exclusively for the internal use of the American side. There are no international legal grounds for a different interpretation. There are no grounds either to view the things she says or does as official statements or activities in relation to our country,” Anatoly Glaz added.
