Five European Union ambassadors have returned to the Belarussian capital, Minsk, seven months after leaving the country in protest at their eviction from a diplomatic compound.

It was one of the more bizarre diplomatic episodes in Europe since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The Belarussian Government told diplomats living in the exclusive Drozdy compound that they would have to leave, officially because of the need for sewage repairs; unofficially, because President Alexander Lukashenko, who also lives in the compound, didn't want to share it with foreigners.

The ambassadors claimed their eviction was a violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

It deepened the international isolation of Belarus. In retaliation the EU and several other countries, among them the United States, imposed travel restrictions on Belarussian officials.

But the return of most of the diplomats suggests that this dispute is almost over.

The EU and Belarus have agreed that the compound be divided, with most of it going to President Lukashenko, but with enough left over to house all but two of the ambassadors, who'll be accommodated elsewhere.