The Ambassador Who Doesn’t Return :: Charter'97 :: News

Former Belarusian ambassador in Japan Petr Kravchenko disappeared on Saturday. There immediately spread rumors that they saw him near the entrance to the US embassy in Japan and that he had the embassy funds and stamp with him. In Minsk he was hastily proclaimed an ambassador in exile. However, yesterday Mr.Kravchenko turned up in the Japanese Foreign Ministry and called everything a “political provocation”, saying that he doesn’t travel home “for medical reasons”. And walked away.

Something weird is going on with the Belarusian ambassador in Japan Petr Kravchenko: beleaguered diplomat, whom some even call a potential leader of the Belarusian opposition, shows up and again disappears into nowhere. Local media are excited by the incident, while the Japanese authorities are saddened by that, for they realize that the conflict with Belarus spread onto their peaceful country too.
Official Minsk sources claim that Kravchenko’s dismissal was of a planned character – his mandate simply expired. However, that sounds kind of unbelievable for they didn’t even appoint his successor at the post. On November 20 the ambassador himself reported in Japan of his soon comeback to Belarus after which there started all the turmoil. Belarusian media were told that someone had seen “traitor Kravchenko” on November 30 evening near the US embassy in Tokyo with “some financial documents, a stamp and keys from his office”. There immediately emerged rumors that the sacked diplomat disobeyed order to come home.
In course of almost two days any “Kommersant” correspondent’s attempts to reach Kravchenko at his cell phone were futile. The automatic voice said that “a recipient is out of reach at the moment”. The ambassador’s home phone also didn’t answer. The Americans soon refuted any allegations. “He isn’t here,” – said the US official representative in Tokyo, adding that he knows nothing of the whereabouts of the missing diplomat.
- Indeed, we received an inquiry from Belarus to find out the location of Kravchenko, - sadly commented the employee of the Japanese Foreign Ministry: Of course, we will pass certain measures, but at the moment the issue is at the stage of consideration. There will be surely no police search.
Meantime, the Belarusian embassy in Tokyo declined to tell us anything of their former boss and recommended to call Minsk, where we will be ostensibly told everything.
And all of a sudden there occurred a miracle: the ex-ambassador personally called in at the Japanese Foreign Ministry and declared that he had never applied for political asylum in the States. He added that he prepares to finish his work according to the protocol procedure and fly back home.
- Any talks about my plea for asylum are a political provocation, - he said later in a phone conversation with ITAR-TASS in Tokyo: Some sought to make a refugee out of me, which does not at all correspond to reality. I wonder who could stay behind that. In December I will return back home, although I can’t do it right away for medical reasons.
The ambassador specified that he is suffering from heart malfunction and is running high blood pressure. Meantime, official Minsk keeps reiterating that Kravchenko refuses to return home and hand over the official documentation. Scared Belarusian diplomats in Tokyo claim that they have no idea where Kravchenko is currently staying for he is now a “private person and doesn’t report to them”. There’s some truth to that, of course, for the man’s home phone again doesn’t answer, while his mobile phone is switched off.