In response to the expulsion of its embassy staff from Belarus, the EU country Lithuania asked almost all diplomats from the neighboring country to leave the country on Wednesday.

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry in Vilnius ordered the Belarusian embassy to reduce diplomatic staff to one by July 12.

According to the announcement, up to three employees are also allowed to stay in the country for technical services.

The leadership in Minsk decided on Tuesday to reduce Lithuania's diplomatic mission in Belarus to a minimum because of an “openly hostile move”.

Lithuania had previously granted the Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya and her team official status.

You have been accredited as the Belarusian democratic representation in the Baltic EU country.

The decision by Belarus is not surprising, said the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.

"It only shows the desire of the Belarusian regime to isolate itself even further and to become even more dependent on its big neighbor," he said, referring to Russia that supports Belarus.

After the controversial presidential election on August 9, 2020, Tichanovskaya fled to the EU's neighboring country, Lithuania. The democracy movement sees her as the true winner of the election, which is widely regarded as falsified, after which the authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko once again had himself declared president. The EU no longer recognizes him as head of state and has imposed sanctions on him and his supporters for the ongoing suppression of the democracy movement in Belarus.