Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has said that European Union ambassadors should return to Belarus in "a matter of days."
Lajcak, speaking to Polish media in Brussels, called the release of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau and his aide, Zmitser Bandarenka, over the weekend "an important event" which offered what he called "a slight opening, a positive momentum."
But Lajcak said the release was just "a first step on a long road."
There are thought to be around 10 remaining political prisoners high on Western demands for release by authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime, including another presidential candidate in 2010, Mikola Statkevich.
The EU countries in February withdrew their ambassadors from Minsk in a tit-for-tat response to Belarus's expulsion of the EU and Polish ambassadors.
Lajcak, speaking to Polish media in Brussels, called the release of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikau and his aide, Zmitser Bandarenka, over the weekend "an important event" which offered what he called "a slight opening, a positive momentum."
But Lajcak said the release was just "a first step on a long road."
There are thought to be around 10 remaining political prisoners high on Western demands for release by authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime, including another presidential candidate in 2010, Mikola Statkevich.
The EU countries in February withdrew their ambassadors from Minsk in a tit-for-tat response to Belarus's expulsion of the EU and Polish ambassadors.
