Belarus has decided to close its embassy in Finland as of September 1, considering that the diplomatic legation has ceased to be relevant after the profound deterioration of ties between both countries due to the war in Ukraine.
Finland's entry into NATO in 2023 finally broke the relationship with Belarus, a close partner of Moscow. Although Minsk maintains its neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict, arsenals of Russian missiles are stored on its territory and, in practice, both States have become the northern dividing line between two opposing blocs.
In this context, the official bulletin of the Belarusian State reported on the night of this past Friday the closure decree signed by Prime Minister Alexander Turchin, by which the 2011 resolution that authorized the opening of the diplomatic mission in Helsinki is formally annulled.
Asked by the Russian agency TASS, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Maxim Rizhenkov, has merely pointed out that the Embassy "is no longer necessary."