Poland on Wednesday announced it would expel a Belarusian diplomat after Belarus had declared a senior Polish diplomat "persona non grata" and required him to leave the country. Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Zalucki told reporters Wednesday he had informed the Belarusian ambassador to Poland he would take diplomatic steps identical to those by Belarus against Polish diplomat Marek Bucko, DPA reported. Earlier this week Belarusian foreign ministry officials told Polish Ambassador Tadeusz Pawlak that Bucko, the First Secretary at Poland's embassy in Minsk, had a month to leave his post. Bucko, who is currently on holiday in Warsaw, told Polish Radio he intended to return to Belarus in the near future to be with his family. The Belarusian decision to act against the Polish diplomat comes after this week's third Council of Europe Summit in Warsaw during which senior European statespersons called for democracy in Belarus.
