Belarusian Foreign Ministry summons U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Minsk over CNN article
MINSK. Feb 7 (Interfax) - U.S. temporary Charge d'Affaires in Minsk Ethan Goldrich was summoned to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on Friday over the rating of the world's ugliest monument composed by the CNN TV channel.
"U.S. temporary Charge d'Affaires to Belarus Goldrich has been invited to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry and has been informed of the unacceptability of posting the article, in which the Courage monument of the Brest Hero-Fortress complex is mentioned, on the website of U.S. private TV channel CNN," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The U.S. diplomat has been told that the insulting character of the publication caused a wave of outrage and incredulity of ordinary Belarusian citizens and public organizations," the document said.
"Belarus lost its every third citizen during World War II and the memory of heroes killed fighting for the freedom of the country is sacred for Belarusians," the statement said.
According to the information of the press office, Belarus has noted the apologies offered by CNN. "At the same time, Goldrich was persistently asked to inform CNN's executives on the stance of Belarus, namely that mentioning the Courage monument in this article is unacceptable," the statement said.
"Simultaneously, the Belarusian Embassy in the United State will inform the leadership of the [U.S.] Department of State on this stance," the document said.
"The Belarusian Embassy in the United States has sent a harsh letter to the editor of the CNN TV channel," the press office said.