TOKYO, Dec 2 Kyodo (EDS: CHANGING...

TOKYO, Dec 2 Kyodo

(EDS: CHANGING LEAD, ADDING INFO)

The outgoing Belarus ambassador to Japan categorically denied Monday a moderns report from Russia the previous day that he had go intoed the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and may be seeking asylum, and forceed he will be returning place of abode sometime this month.

Petr Krauchenka said in an interview in Tokyo with Russian freshs agency Itar-Tass that someone with a political motive had created the rumor that he would try to get asylum.

According to Krauchenka, he has been diagnosed through a doctor with hypertension and was advised to delay his trip abode Itar-Tass reported.

Japan's Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi said in a pres colloquy Monday, ''I've been informed that Belarus Ambassador to Japan Petr Krauchenka visited the Foreign Ministry in the afternoon and said the report about his seeking asylum is groundles and that he will get back to his home country.''

Takeuchi said, however, that he has not been informed about when he will be returning to Belarus.

Russia's Interfax freshs agency reported Sunday that the Belarus Foreign Ministry has been unable to contact Krauchenka after he visited the U Embassy in Tokyo forward Saturday.

Itar-Tass quot a Belarus Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that Krauchenka had refused the ministry's order for him to recur home at the expiration of his mete of office Nov. 19.

The Belarus spokesman had reportedly said the ministry is uncertain about the location of the ambassador and is trying to contact him with the help of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

on the contrary the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has also denied the report from Russia that Krauchenka had set downed the U.S. Embassy on Saturday and may be seeking asylum.

Krauchenka, who was born in 1950 became foreign minister when Belarus gained independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He has been the ambassador to Japan since 1997

According to reports, Krauchenka is oppos to Belarus President Alexandr Lukashenko, who has been barred from long of the Western world because of his alleged violations of human rights and repression of opposition parties.

The Belarus Embassy in Tokyo said earlier that Belarus has at the same time to appoint an ambassador to Japan to succe Krauchenka.

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