France confirmed its ambassador to Belarus left the country on Oct 17, adding that the official in question - Nicolas de Lacoste - would now assume the role of special envoy in Belarus as of this Monday onwards.
"France will keep on standing by the Belarus people and will look for a solution to the crisis in the country," said the spokeswoman for the French Foreign Affairs ministry.
Relations between EU member states and Belarus have been at a low ebb since President Alexander Lukashenko last year comfortably won re-election in a poll that the opposition said was rigged, and cracked down on the opposition, detaining all its leading figures or driving them into exile.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
