The French ambassador to Belarus, Nicolas de Lacoste, was deported from the country.
This was confirmed yesterday (Sunday) by the spokeswoman for the embassy in Minsk.
Although she noted that the administration had ordered de Lacoste to leave, she did not specify why.
On the other hand, according to Belarusian media reports, the French ambassador never met with President Alexander Lukashenko to give him the treaty letter.
De Lacoste did not do so because France does not recognize the results of the Belarusian presidential election held on August 9 last year, at the end of which it was alleged that Lukashenko defeated Svetlana Tikhnovskaya.
The unreasonable result of 80.1% for Lukashenko versus 10.12% for Tikhnovskaya speaks for itself.
"The ambassador said goodbye to the team and recorded a video with a message to the Belarusian people that will be published later on the embassy website," a spokeswoman for the French embassy in Minsk told AFP.
Svetlana Tikhnovskaya, Photo: GettyImages
Earlier this month, Lukashenko was interviewed by CNN and said that if necessary, his country would become a united military force with the Russian Federation, with the aim of "resisting Western aggression."
However, he noted that there is currently not in Belarus any "single base of any country, including Russia, except for two civilian purposes."
"If necessary, the country will become the sole military force of Belarus and Russia in order to resist Western aggression, if it suddenly decides to invade or separate neighboring countries. This must be clearly understood," the president said.
Asked whether there are currently military installations in Belarus, Lukashenko noted that there are no military bases in Russia or any other country for the purpose of Belarus, other than two civilian sites.