The Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is expelling all Swedish diplomats from the country, according to Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

“Lukashenko is now throwing all Swedish diplomats out of Belarus. His fear of human rights reaching new heights,” Bildt writes.

The move comes following the Belarus decision last week to declare the Swedish ambassador to Belarus persona non grata, accusing him of having close contacts with the Belarusian opposition. Sweden responded by withholding its approval of Belarus’ new ambassador to Sweden and asking two Belarus diplomats to leave the country.

That diplomatic squabble came in the wake of a private Swedish PR company’s unsanctioned flight into Belarus to drop a parachute regiment of fluffy, small Swedish teddy bears bearing placards criticising the Belarus regime.

“They are closing their embassy in Stockholm and in practice closing the Swedish embassy in Minsk by withdrawing the diplomatic status of Swedish diplomats from the end of August,” says Swedish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anders Jörle.

Robert Hårdh of Civil Rights Defenders says the Belarus move is a major diplomatic step.

“Belarus has been annoyed with Sweden for some time as a result of its attitudes, but this move seems out of all proportion and is difficult to interpret. Like all dictators, Lukashenko is unpredictable, and it there is not always a logic to what happens,” Hårdh says.

He adds that the two Swedish diplomats who are now to leave Minsk were due to leave anyway.

On Sunday, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal reacted strongly to the news that the Swedish ambassador had been asked to leave Belarus.

“The expulsion (of the Swedish ambassador) is unfortunately another incomprehensible step by President Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus, which already denies basic human rights to the Belarusian population,” Søvndal said.

“Denmark and the European Union have reacted strongly to the breach of individual human rights by the Belarus authorities by introducing sanctions both against individuals and companies with close relations to the regime,” Søvndal said.

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