The recall by EU member states of all their ambassadors came after an unusual move by Minsk to advise the EU and Polish envoys to return to their own capitals for consultations. Belarus did not state explicitly that it was expelling the Polish and EU envoys but EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said all European ambassadors would now return home in an "expression of solidarity". "The (Polish) Foreign Ministry instructed ambassador (Leszek Szarepka) to leave in 24 hours," a source in the Polish embassy told AFP. Belarussian foreign minister Andrei Savinykh shrugged off the move, telling AFP it is a "positive" step "if the ambassadors inform their capitals of Belarus' position that EU policy on Belarus has no prospects." The EU on Wednesday published a backlist for travel to the EU of 21 judges, prosecutors, and police officials said to be in charge of repression after post-election mass protests shook Minsk in December, 2010. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has become increasingly isolated from the West after a crackdown against his opponents that followed his re-election in disputed presidential elections in December 2010. "If somebody in Europe still thinks that we can be bent by sanctions, reprimands and demands that is a road to nowhere," the Belarussian leader said last week to the ambassadors fo Luxemburg and Norway. The opposition however called Lukashenko's position misguided. "(The recall) will make Lukashenko even more dependent on Russia," said opposition politician Vladimir Nekliayev, the strongman's former challenger in the polls. "Belarus is not in a position to dictate to anyone by demonstrating force," he said.