Warsaw, 4 November 1996 (RFE/RL) -- Poland's new ambassador to Belarus, Ewa Spychalska, arrived today in Minsk. Spychalska's mission officially begins when she hands her credentials to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Poland has not had an ambassador to Belarus for more than a year.
Our Warsaw correspondent reports Spychalska's nomination sparked controversy, and that opposition deputies voted against her. Some parliamentary deputies also called for the nomination to be delayed, or that the level of Poland's mission in Minsk be reduced to protest Lukashenka's human rights violations. Leaders of Belarus' opposition Popular Front sought refuge in Poland briefly, before being granted asylum by Washington.
Poland's leftist-dominated Parliament and President Aleksandr Kwasniewski rejected these arguments and approved Spychalska's nomination.