The American ambassador expressed his concern to journalists. "If the government wants to lock us out, we will have to leave the country," he said.

The Belarusian government says that the residential complex for foreign diplomats, known as Drozdy, is in need of repairs. It had warned diplomats from 22 countries in April that they would have to leave the complex.

As the workers were welding the gates to his residence, the US ambassador Daniel Spekhard was telling a news conference that if diplomats in the Drozdy residences were expelled, it would be the first incident of its kind after the end of the Cold War.

He said he hoped that the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko would "correct this situation in time."