Ambassador Tomasz Pernicki, who has been working in Minsk since 2018, is leaving. What can be assumed?
The diplomat will take the position of chief of protocol in the office of the newly elected President Petr Pavel. This is justified by the fact, E*vroradio writes, that Pernitsky used to be the director of diplomatic protocol at the Foreign Ministry.
After his departure from Minsk, there will be no Czech ambassador to Belarus – only a temporary chargé d’affaires. In fact, this means that the Czech Republic is worsening diplomatic relations with the Lukashenka regime.
Columnist Alexander Fridman believes that the Czech Republic is following Israel’s path: “Last year, Israel’s ambassador to Belarus Alex Goldman-Shaiman was replaced at the head of the embassy by Chargé d’Affaires Tsvi Mirkin. This allowed Israel to elegantly sidestep the issue of presentation of credentials to Lukashenka: in the case of an interim attorney, there is no provision for presentation of credentials and thus actual recognition of the regime.
The current Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Belarus, Tomasz Pernitsky, is leaving for the post of Director of the Protocol Department of the new President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel. In his place, Prague will send (if at all) a temporary attorney.
It can be assumed that other EU countries that do not recognize Lukashenka will act in the same way in the future: the level of diplomatic presence in Belarus will decrease.”
Source: Gazetaby