UPDATE 1-Belarus renews demand to cut U.S. embassy staff

(Recasts with Belarus statement on embassy, previous BRUSSELS)

By Andrei Makhovsky

MINSK, April 23 (Reuters) - Belarus renewed its demand on Wednesday for a cut in the number of U.S. embassy staff in its capital, on the grounds that Washington had failed to lift economic sanctions against the ex-Soviet state.

Minsk's troubled relations with the West suffered another blow when the European Union joined the United States in condemning the jailing of an opposition activist considered a political prisoner in the West.

Washington and the 27-member EU accuse Belarus of flouting democratic freedoms and have imposed sanctions on it, including an entry ban on President Alexander Lukashenko.

A Belarussian Foreign Ministry statement issued on Wednesday repeated a demand for a second reduction, to seven from 17, in the staff at the U.S. embassy.

"As the United States has maintained sanctions against Belarussian economic entities ...and rejected a mutually agreed solution, Belarus proposes implementation of a ministry proposal to reduce the U.S. diplomatic presence in Minsk on the basis of parity," it said.

The ministry said the demand had been presented to U.S. charge d'affaires Jonathan Moore.

Belarus had hoped to improve relations with the West in the past year but became embroiled in a diplomatic row with Washington over human rights and sanctions. The U.S. ambassador left Minsk last month at the request of Belarussian authorities.