Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed his ambassador to Belarus after months of tension. Mikhail Babich, a former KGB officer, had made a number of controversial comments that provoked the ire of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry accused the diplomat of treating Belarus as a district of Russia as opposed to an independent state.
Foreign Policy: Lukashenko is ‘selling Belarus, piece by piece, to Russia’
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) welcomes his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko during their meeting at the Kremlin, in Moscow, on Dec. 29, 2018.
