On May 5, Armenia’s chargé d’affaires in Belarus Artur Sargsyan was summoned to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, where he was handed a note of protest.
“A strong protest was lodged with the Armenian diplomat and a corresponding note was handed over in connection with recent unfriendly actions by the Armenian side,” the Belarusian Foreign Ministry’s press service said.
The ministry did not specify what “unfriendly actions” it was referring to. On May 4, the European Political Community summit was held in Yerevan, attended by the leader of the Belarusian democratic forces Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. On May 3, Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan described Belarus as a province of Russia. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry responded to those remarks, calling Simonyan’s statement populism and an exercise in offensive labels.