The ice has broken: the United States and Belarus for the first time in 11 years will exchange ambassadors

Minsk and Washington decided to restore interstate ties at the ambassadorial level after more than 11 years of “frozen” relations. Analysts in Moscow and Minsk argue that the Trump administration is building an anti-Russian line in Eastern Europe.

Photo: president.gov.by

Washington has decided to restore diplomatic missions with Belarus at the ambassadorial level, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale said at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

“We believe that today is a historic moment in Belarusian-American relations. I am pleased to participate in the announcement of readiness for an exchange of ambassadors as the next step in normalizing our relations,” Hale said.

The official Minsk a few months earlier announced its readiness to positively resolve the issue of the status of the diplomatic mission, but Washington replied that it takes time to make a final decision.

David Hale, who arrived in Minsk on 17 on September, said that the time had come.

“We agree with you that this state of affairs is unnatural, abnormal. Glad this chapter is ending. We are closing it, taking into account the steps that your country and you personally have taken. We also note the vision that you have adopted - greater diversity both in internal affairs and in relations with the outside world. We actively support this vision and will do everything possible to help you along this path,” the US Deputy Secretary of State was quoted as saying by official Belarusian media.

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The exact date of arrival of the American ambassador to Minsk is still unknown. A candidate for this position must pass approval in the US Senate.

David Hale said that the United States is restoring full-fledged relations with Belarus not for the purpose of competing with some other country, but only in order to fully realize the potential of bilateral relations.

“And also because this region is very dear to us, and we are very attentive to security issues. Also because we very much support the sovereignty and independence of Belarus,” said David Hale.

Why there were no ambassadors for a long time and how did this interfere with ordinary Belarusians

The United States recognized Belarus as an independent state on December 25, 1991 - second after Ukraine. And just three days later the countries officially established diplomatic relations.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, relations have deteriorated - the United States suspected Lukashenko of laundering Saddam Hussein’s money and suppressing local sprouts of democracy. In early October 2004, the United States imposed sanctions against Lukashenko and the country he leads for the suppression of democratic freedoms, adopting the “Belarus Democracy Act” with a long list of requirements for the current Belarusian president. One of the demands concerned the disappearance of Lukashenko’s political opponents, information about whose fate has still not been made public.

Official Minsk ignored the demands made by Washington, except at the level of propaganda campaigns, highlighting the problem of deteriorating relations with the United States.

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In March 2008, after the United States imposed sanctions on the state concern Belneftekhim in connection with human rights violations in Belarus, at the insistence of the Belarusian side, the number of employees of the US Embassy in Minsk was reduced.

The Belarusian ambassador to the United States, Mikhail Khvostov, was recalled to Minsk for consultations, and the ambassador of the United States, Karen Stewart, left Minsk at the insistence of the Belarusian side. Since then, the US mission in Minsk was led by charge d'affaires.

The diplomatic staff of the US embassy in Minsk was reduced from 35 to five people; also reduced the list of consular services to citizens. Belarusian citizens were forced to apply for American visas at the consular offices of US embassies in Moscow, Warsaw, Kiev and Vilnius.

In 2014, the embassy resumed issuing visas to certain categories of citizens - for example, students, exchange program participants, people over 70 years of age and those who previously had a US visa.

Now that the countries have announced full diplomatic representation, they will not have to travel from Minsk for visas to other lands.

President Lukashenko, meeting in Minsk with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, emphasized that Minsk was “not the only signal to the US leadership about the normalization of relations.”

The threat of the “anti-Russian arc”

Analysts in Russia and Belarus unanimously note Washington’s increased activity during the debate between Minsk and Moscow on the principles of allied relations.

Participants in the Union State of Belarus and Russia, organized after the collapse of the USSR, have recently begun to fundamentally clarify their relations - and it was precisely at the time of the formation of “road maps” for deepening integration that John, who held the post of US Presidential National Security Advisor, arrived in Minsk in the last days of August on an official visit Bolton (he left office soon after). Since the beginning of the millennium, American officials of such high rank have not come to Belarus.

Photo: president.gov.by

Bolton following the results of the Minsk meetings сообщилthat no breakthrough decisions have been made, but the parties are working on progress. A week and a half later, John Bolton was dismissed by Trump, giving rise to a lot of memes and sarcastic comments in social networks in Minsk.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reiterated to David Hale that the United States could fruitfully help resolve the conflict in Ukraine and praised the American guest for his attention to Eastern Europe.

“In these difficult times, your interest in this region is encouraging,” Lukashenko’s press service quotes him as saying.

Russian media comment on the current Belarusian-American decisions and curtseys in the spectrum from “betrayal of the fraternal union” to “Lukashenko’s master’s pragmatism.” Belarusian media note that Lukashenko is forced to maneuver, even “getting bogged down in the clauses of a long-standing union agreement with the Kremlin.”

“The United States is ready to support some initiatives that would be aimed at strengthening Belarusian sovereignty. But this does not mean that they will actively promote any agenda. Rather, they will help if there is any request or desire to cooperate in this direction on the part of the Belarusian authorities,” believes Andrei Kazakevich, director of the Political Sphere Institute.

“They understand that it is good for Belarus to be sovereign and have some kind of autonomy and distance from Russia, they are ready to support this, but there is no reason to somehow promote this. Still, it is clear that Belarus is in the orbit of Russian influence; the country’s population and elites are largely (at least in the opinion of many Americans) pro-Russian. The situation is very different from Ukraine, Georgia and even Moldova, where such assistance to strengthen sovereignty may still be received with greater gratitude,” Kazakevich told Belarusian News.

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